The Brain Advantage

Rewiring the Brain

When Cheryl was 35, a medical overdose damaged her inner ear, leaving her a distorted sense of balance. She felt as if she was in constant danger of falling down. She could not tell if she was sitting or standing, and she often crashed to the floor. Perpetually disoriented, Cheryl lost her job and had to apply for disability benefits.

Neurologist Paul Bach-y-Rita proved the malleability of the brain by the way he helped Cheryl. He designed and constructed an ingenious helmet that gave her with special somatic cues to tell her if she was stable and standing or sitting upright. With this device, Cheryl regained her equilibrium. When she took off the helmet after a minute, she recovered her stability for 20 seconds. When she wore it for prolonged periods, her sense of balance lingered for increasing amounts of time after she removed the helmet. Its “electrical impulses” created “secondary pathways” in her brain, building new “balance signals” and proving the brain can change.

Cheryl no longer needs the helmet. Her experience illustrates the power of “neural plasticity.” In far less drastic ways, your brain, too, is capable of training and retraining...