EDUCATION, LEARNING AND THE
MIND: COGNITIVE
NEUROEDUCATION (CNE)
The Framing Document for the Presentation
E glish as The ap Deli e ed “epte e to
CNE
COGN ITIVE N EUROED UCATIONEnglish
as
Therapy
The neuroscience of learning and the role of language in cognition – neuroscience in the classroom: The power of
English as a medium for learning and cognitive development in an ELT* environment
*ELT (English Language Teaching)refers to the teaching of English to non-native English
speakers as a foreign, or second, language (TEFL in the lea e s ati e ou t , o TESL in
A P r esentation to the 2015 Neur oELT Br ain Days Inter national Confer ence
Kyoto, J apan September 27
by Dr. Spencer M. Robinson
Research Associate Director
National Institute for Str oke Center for Applied Social
And Applied Neur osciences Neur oscience (CASN)
AUT Univer sity Fukui, J apan
INTRODUCTION
This presentation introduces CNE (Cognitive Neuroeducation), a new, noninvasive,
nonpharmacological modality for intervention in cognitive and behavioral disorder with the
As will be demonstrated in this presentation, cognition, behavior and learning may be
understood as essentially interdependent terms referring to the basic interlocked mechanisms of the human social brain, and therefore CNE may be defined as a program or curriculum for
optimizing positive learning outcomes that enhance cognition in the formation of
This presentation is geared to the TEFL (teaching of English as a foreign language) community in Japan, and as such, will be more language
orientated (especially English teaching oriented) than behaviorally orientated; however, the
CNE is unique in that it is the only modality in the fields of learning and mental health that is strictly tied to how the brain actually works within a tightly constructed, exhaustively comprehensive model of the mind as formed exclusively from rigorous
evidence-based analysis.
To explain CNE, its theories and principles, it is first necessary to outline a model of human behavior based on the evolution of the human brain and the unique relationship between the human brain and human behavior in comparison with behavioral
formation in all other taxa. To explore this
Some Initial Definitions:
• The te hu a ill e used herein to refer exclusively to the anatomically modern human (AMH), identified by the trinomial Homo
sapiens sapiens, constituting the genus,
species, and subspecies of the taxon.
• Taxon = A single designated type of organism that constitutes a distinctive identity within the system of organism classification, such as
• Trinomial = The identification of an organism by designated genus + species + subspecies.
• Binomial = The identification of an organism by designated genus + species.
• Genotype = The genetic makeup (as
distinguished from physical appearance) of an organism encoded by the combination of
alleles on individual chromosomes, a
• Allele = One member of a pair (or any of the series) of genes occupying a specific spot on a chromosome (called locus) that controls the same trait.
• Phenotype = The composite of an organism's observable characteristics or traits, such as its morphology, development, biochemical or
physiological properties, phenology, behavior, and products of behavior – the physical and
behavioral expression of a o ga is s ge eti makeup dependent upon which genes are
• Phenology = The response to the relationship
between season and climate in the cycles of plant and animal life such as flowering, breeding,
migration, etc.
• Operant behavior, as defined herein, refers to
human voluntary, incidentally learned, internally driven behavioral reactions as opposed to
involuntary, externally coerced and purposefully manipulated conditioned responses, and thus as used herein does not exactly align with the
ea i g of ope a t as used i the “ki e ia o ept of ope a t o ditio i g. U less
otherwise indicated, all references to human behavior herein pertain exclusively to operant
• Phylogeny = the evolutionary branching
process by which organisms evolve through differentiation into groups of immediate and more distant relationships, each group
distinguished by a unique combination of morphological and behavioral features.
• Clade = a distinct phylogenetic branch, from living or most recent genus or genera back through a clear, direct lineage to the single,
earliest ancestral binomial form – a taxonomic group of organisms classified together on the basis of homologous features traced to a
• The human clade, as defined herein, constitutes the subtribe Hominina, consisting of the single
genus of Homo, whose ancestral forms have been
purported to include H. habilis, H. rudolfensis, H.
ergaster, H. erectus, H. heidelbergensis, H.
neanderthalensis, archaic H. sapiens and H.
sapiens idaltu, to name some of the more
prominent fossil discoveries. A number of fossil genera in the subtribe of Australopithecina have been suggested to be ancestral to the human
clade, such as Australopithecus, Paranthropus,
Ardipithecus, Sahelanthopus, Orrorin, and
Kenyanthropus, but there is no definitive
argument on the classification of many of the fossil forms and the composition of the human clade. Homo sapiens sapiens is the single extant
The tribe Hominini consists of the three subtribes of 1) Hominina,
consisting of the single genus Homo; 2) Panina, consisting of the
single genus Pan; and 3) Australopithecina, which consists of
Genera
Subtribe Hominina
•Homo
Subtribe Panina
•Pan
Subtribe Australopithecina
•† Paranthropus
•† Australopithecus
•† Sahelanthropus
•† Orrorin
•† Ardipithecus
•† Kenyanthropus
Scientific Classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Primates
Suborder: Haplorhini
Family: Hominidae
Subfamily: Homininae
Subfamily HOMININAE
Tribe HOMININI GORILLINI
Subtribe Hominina Panina Australopithecina
Genus Homo Pan* Paranthropus Gorilla
Australopithecus
Sahelanthropus
Orrorin
Ardipithecus Kenyanthropus
The Social Brain:
A Unique Evolutionary Development of the Anatomically Modern Human (AMH)
• Many animal forms share some common
characteristics, and taxa grouped in the same superfamily, family, subfamily, tribe, and genus,
respectively, share closer and closer characteristics.
What is critical in understanding human behavior in the achievement of balanced and optimum functioning
within the unique conditions of human life, is to clearly define the essence as opposed to the details of that
• While many taxa are behaviorally oriented toward a community or social structure, with biologically hardwired, preprogrammed role-specific differentiation such as in ant and wasp colonies and bee hives, or by a general
rudimentary cognitive tendency toward forming small social hierarchical groups, such as in
chimpanzee or gorilla groups, only one taxon has evolved a unique social brain inherently
biologically encoded in the self-construction of the cognitive configuration and interpretation of self and individual experience within the
framework of defined social roles and the construction of complex layers of social
organization. That taxon is Homo sapiens sapiens,
Evolutionary Path of Social Brain:
From Fixed Action Patterns to Pseudo-Fixed ActionPatterns and Learned Response
• H. sapiens sapiens (AMH), distinct from all other
extant animal taxa, is not biologically
preprogrammed for specialized physiological and behavioral adaptation to a discrete habitat.
• Other taxa vs. AMH: Fixed action patterns (also known as innate releasing mechanisms or modal action patterns, and commonly referred to as
i sti ts s. AMH pseudo-fixed action patterns and learned responses through socialization,
Pseudo-Fixed Action Patterns
• Acute stress response (fight-or-flightresponse), attachment/bonding response,
mating response, tend-and-befriend response, etc.
• Central mechanism of basic behavioral
propensities = affective properties embedded within pseudo-fixed action patterns; e.g., fear, anger, rage, hate and violence in the acute
Learned vs. Preprogrammed Behavior
• Unlike hardwired automated mechanisms of fixed action patterns, human pseudo-fixed action patterns may be overridden by
learning/experience and are mediated by individual genotype and phenotype and affective profile.
• While the predisposition of affect is an innate biological determinant of human behavior, the individual capacity for, and/or particular
nature of, affective reaction is mediated by genotype and phenotype to the extent that each individual possesses a unique basic
• As well as an inextricable component of experience [i.e. the perception of
ideas/images associated with the particular objectifications (concrete or abstract) of
discrete types or classifications of external
• Because, normatively, all human reaction to external stimuli contains an affective
component to greater or lesser degree (no
matter how subtle), in the context of operant behavior the affective aspect of experience may place a positive or negative cast on any experience, and in highly emotive reactions, can completely override rational constructions of cause-and-effect relationships or logical
• The pseudo-fixed action pattern of curiosity, or inquisitiveness, is the driving force of exploration, imagination, discovery and invention necessary for adaptation to different habitats by obtaining knowledge about, and making innovative use of, natural resources in the manipulation of the
environment to meet basic human needs.
• Because we are not physically fine-tuned to any particular habitat, we have to manipulate our environment to maintain our lives. By creatively transforming natural resources into shelter,
clothing and tools for hunting, fishing, food
gathering and food preparation and for defense against predators and foes, we are able to sustain ourselves in any livable habitat.
• Curiosity, or inquisitiveness, as a vehicle of
adaptation, is consequently the major vehicle of learning. Curiosity, or inquisitiveness, an
innate, essential and powerful motivator of human behavior, may be seen as a major
• Through curiosity and imagination, this innate behavioral orientation toward discovery and adaptation has enabled humans to survive in a
variety of habitats without being restricted to any single narrowly defined habitat or ecosystem,
and, with the capacity to learn an endless variety of adaptive strategies, has enabled humans – by exploitation of all available resources and the
flexibility to adjust to environmental changes – to successfully compete with animals that though much more biologically attuned to any specific
• Evolution is driven by the survival of the species, and in human evolution particular propensities and capacities in the biological
makeup of the individual through the diversity of genotype and phenotype are essential for evolutionary survival in the maintenance of the widest possible range of adaptive
• Through a highly diverse gene pool, the human phenotype extends over a vast range of potential individual behavioral and affective profiles.
• Individual propensities uniquely mediate the way in which an individual responds to either basic
needs or external stimuli, so that, while all humans share basic biologically innate
predispositions of both perception and action,
each individual possesses a distinct genotype and phenotype that uniquely shapes intricate
ha a te isti st les o fla o s of pe eptio
• Different propensities for behavior and different experiences lead to different
individual interests, aptitudes and orientations and attractions in life, which lead to divisions of labor, skill specialization and role playing in a group structure constituting the foundations of society.
• Insufficiently equipped to compete with other animal taxa for survival on an individual basis, humans evolved to rely on the competitive
Cooperation:
The Key to Human Survival
• By cooperative behavior facilitated by
language (particularly verbal communication), which led to both higher-order reasoning and tool-making flexibility to manipulate their
environment, humans were able to
• Human groups also competed with each other for survival in a particular habitat or region, so that social cohesiveness, role and skill
diversification and skill expertise within a
group leading to more specialized supportive social structures became the keys to group survival that pushed evolutionary
determinants toward the human tendency for more sophisticated, intricate and complex
• So- alled o alit e ol ed as a o ditio of g oup survivability.
• Such so- alled hu a i tues as ou age, lo e,
compassion, forgiveness, charity, mercy, consideration, honesty, honor, selflessness, steadfastness, loyalty, self-sacrifice, etc., are not simply moral codes of religious
convictions or social ideals, but, like reason and rationality, are natural tendencies embedded within the pseudo-fixed
action patterns and cognitive constructions of the human social brain that are designed to solidify group
cohesiveness and effectiveness in maximization of the competiveness of a group – the greater these qualities
• For basic survival,
1) learning became the central operating principle of the human social brain;
2) curiosity or inquisitiveness in response to
novelty became the driving force of learning, 3) logic and reason became the principle
method of understanding,
4) and affective state became the mechanism arbitrating the balance between
Formation of the Human Social Brain
• The advantages of cooperative behavior could only be effectively realized through the
development of the community structure.
• Human evolution became increasingly
orientated toward social behavior and the social brain through which the
Behavioral Precepts of the Social Brain
The social brain developed as a neurophysiological system driving a behavioral tendency toward the construction and maintenance of community
structures consisting of complex, intricate social interactions within multilayered strata of
differentially organized social formations, each
defined by specific rules of conduct, constructs of meaning and prevailing frames of reference in
entities evolving from such units as family, dyad, group, and to such constructions as tribes,
ethnicities, religions and cultures and the
Human Experience as
Social Phenomena
Since the social brain, and therefore, the mind (the mind herein defined as a quality or
abstraction derived from the sum total of the effects of the interlocking mechanisms within the brain) is organized in terms of patterned conceptualizations of social formations, it
follows then, that all experience of the world, and, consequently, all learning, is interpreted,
Learning:
The Central Operating Principle of the
Social Brain
• Since all learning is acquired through
experience, that is, by information from the
world around us incidentally gathered through the unfolding of life in a society, and through the experience of learning a subject or trade intentionally studied as a selective response to
o e s u i ue phe ot pe a d the options of
o e s i u sta es, e a defi e lea i g
• Experience is defined herein as the process of the differential recognition and registration of all
sensory or extrasensory stimuli – that which one sees, hears, feels, smells, tastes or thinks about, consciously or subliminally (e.g., dreams).
• Since we are not prewired for explicit behavior in a fixed habitat, but rather learn complex rules of behavior adaptable to any livable habitat and the myriad social contexts that may be formed in
response to the conditions of any particular
livable habitat; learning may be seen then as the central operating principle of the social brain
Learning as Social Interaction
Everything we learn takes place in a social
context. From birth and throughout our lives, our interactions with others shape our
understanding of the world. Learning occurs as parents talk with their children, as children play together, and as teachers instruct and assist
students. Though learning progresses through biologically determined stages, it is the social
• Learning takes place through our interactions and communication with others. Even as we sit
reading a novel by ourselves we interact with the author, the social and cultural context of the
novel and in thinking about the story within the context of our own situation and social values.
• Learning and development take place in the
interactions children have with peers as well as with teachers and other adults. These social
interactions develop language – which supports thinking – and they provide feedback and
assistance that support ongoing learning. In a
variety of ways these social interactions form the basis of the understandings that are internalized in the individual as cognitive constructs or
• A cognitive construct is defined herein as an
i di idual s u i ue o ga izatio of the total
set of patterns, relationships, associations, connections, impressions and feelings,
interpretations and conceptual syntheses and implications that is internalized and encoded in the mind as a reaction to each discrete
• The cognitive schemata is defined herein as the complete set of cognitive constructs and all the intertwining interactions between them unique to each individual as encoded through
the i di idual s life e pe ie es.
• The te su li i al is defi ed he ei as a
cognitive condition operating below the
threshold of, and inaccessible to, articulate
Components of Learning
Learning represents everything that we have experienced and the way we have internalized the experiences, constituting all the knowledge and skills that we have gained, all the
impressions of the events of our life that we have stored and are able to recall, and all the different feelings and ideas that we have about the world and the people we know and
• From this understanding of learning we can say that learning, knowledge, understanding, memory, thinking, and our attitudes about life and the world are all different perspectives of the same phenomenon.
• The equation of what defines each of us as a unique individual, a distinct personality, the sum total of who each of us is, may then be understood as genotype + phenotype +
Genotype and Phenotype vs. Behavior
Human phenotype is not a static condition but an ongoing dynamic of the effects of environment (i.e., experience) on genetic expression. Though innate biological propensities of unique genotype and phenotype lead to basic highly individualistic
st les o fla o s of i di idual pe eptio a d
action, the built-in malleability of the human social brain, as a fundamental product of human
evolution, may override such basic phenotypical behavioral characteristics to the extent that other, even very different, behavioral styles of social
The Mechanism of Learning
• Both sense-given impressions of external stimuli and self-generated stimuli from the internal
reconfiguration of impressions form distinctive patterns of neuronal interconnectivity in the brain representing basic subliminal
conceptualizations by which thought frameworks are molded and experiences are cognitively
codified.
• This process entails the systematization of the collection of internalizations of reactions to all
the disti t sti uli that o stitute a i di idual s
total experience in the formation of a
• From the internalized collection and
systematization of the aggregate of the immediate reactions to distinct stimuli,
patterns of relationships are constructed (i.e., cognitive conceptualizations of experience are formed). This process is known as
Apperception
• Apperception refers to the mechanism by
which new experience is assimilated into, and transformed by, the residuum of past
• In apperception new experience is understood or interpreted through the lens of previous
experience and the perspective formed from that previous experience, but also the new experience, however transformed, becomes part of the aggregate of experience of the individual and adds new information to the aggregate, thereby altering perspective, by which the new experience transforms the
esiduu of the i di idual s life e pe ie e;
the new experience being both transformed
Neuroplasticity
• Neuroplasticity is the principal neurophysiological mechanism of the human brain through which
apperception occurs.
• In the context of learning as the mechanism that drives human cognitive construction, neuroplasticity is
defined as the biologically inherent and ongoing
process of macrostructural changes in the human brain that occur throughout life as a result of 1) normal brain maturation in prenatal and postnatal development and later cycles of exuberant synaptogenesis and synaptic pruning; and 2) the subsequent effect of everyday
sensory and extrasensory stimuli as shaped by
environmental influences and apperception, exclusive of neurodevelopmental disorders and tissue
• In the context of learning and apperception as the
mechanisms that drive human cognitive construction, neuroplasticity may be fundamentally understood as constantly changing patterns of neuronal
interconnectivity involving the modulation of neuronal potentiation (activation readiness and firing strength), which largely consists of the processes of: 1) synaptic blooming and pruning, and 2) synaptic strength
modulation.
• Synaptic strength is modulated by a multitude of
conditions including presynaptic neuronal activation readiness and firing strength; neuromodulator
influence (modulatory input-dependent plasticity); heterosynaptic plasticity that may involve the timing and strength of the firing of neighboring neurons or the timing relationship between pre- and postsynaptic neuronal pair firing (including STDP – spike timing
dependent plasticity); synaptic scaling; and various
• The synaptic blooming and pruning process
consists of synaptogenesis (the formation of new synapses) and synaptic pruning (the elimination of redundant synapses). Both synaptogenesis (i.e., synaptic blooming) and synaptic pruning
o all o u th oughout a i di idual s life,
but at two important junctures there is an
explosion of both synaptic blooming and pruning (exuberant synaptogenesis followed by extensive elimination of excess synapses) necessary as an inherent part of the process of human brain
development. These junctures are early
• Synaptic blooming and pruning is the process by which new synapses are generated in the brain and selected synapses eliminated to allow neurons to 1) strengthen or weaken existing connections, and 2) make new
connections with other neurons in either
modifying or forming new or more extensive or complex patterns of neuronal
• The ongoing process of synaptic blooming and pruning maintains a regulated homeostasis
through a basic overall synaptic quantity in the
brain (although there is some evidence that there is a natural, gradual loss of synaptic quantity
throughout later adulthood), and fine-tunes neuronal networks by eliminating redundant (weak or little-used) synaptic connections to eliminate extraneous neurocircuit noise and
increase the efficiency of neuronal transmission. The synaptic bloom-and-prune process is an
important component of the fundamental
neurophysiological process by which learning occurs through apperception; this learning dependent on the environment in which the
learning occurs through the cellular mechanisms of long-term potentiation (LTP) and long-term
Long-Term Potentiation and
Long-Term Depression
• Long-term potentiation (LTP) is defined as the development of a long-lasting synaptic strength or vitality between a pair of presynaptic and
postsynaptic neurons as a product of the
interactivity of the pair. The opposite of LTP is long-term depression (LTD), which produces a long-lasting decrease in synaptic strength
between a pair of neurons. LTP and LTD are
processes by which chemical synapses are able to change their strength, constituting a principal
cellular mechanism of learning, as memories and experience are encoded by the modification of the strength of synaptic connections that form
• LTP is understood as the mechanism of the principle
des i ed Ca la “hatz as ells that fi e togethe
i e togethe “hatz , ased o He ia
theory developed in 1949 by Canadian psychologist Donald Hebb (Hebb 1949) that rather than forming new neurons (neurogenesis), memories are formed (that is, experiences are encoded) by strengthening the connections (the synaptic interfaces) between
existing neurons to improve the effectiveness of their communication. By the processes of both metabolic changes and the growing of new connections (i.e., new synaptic interfaces), neurons enhance their ability to communicate.
• In basic Hebbian theory, the persistence or repetition of a reverberatory activity tends to induce lasting cellular changes that add to its stability, for example, when an axon of cell A is contributory in exciting the axon of cell B and repeatedly or persistently takes part in firing it, growth processes and metabolic changes are generated in one or both cells such that
A s effi ie i fi i g B that is, the st e gth of
• LTP and LTD are persistent processes, LTP
lasting from several minutes to many months, and it is this persistence that leads to the
• Though there are several types of long-term
potentiation, they can basically be divided into Hebbian and non-Hebbian types. Hebbian LTP requires simultaneous pre- and postsynaptic depolarization for its induction, as opposed to Non-Hebbian LTP which is induced without
simultaneity of depolarization.
• A special type of Non-Hebbian LTP, known as anti-Hebbian LTP, requires simultaneous
presynaptic depolarization and relative postsynaptic hyperpolarization for its induction.
• Low-level activation of an excitatory pathway can produce what is known as long-term depression (LTD) of synaptic transmission in many areas of the brain. Hebbian LTD is induced by a minimum level of postsynaptic depolarization and
simultaneous increase in the intracellular calcium concentration at the postsynaptic neuron.
Alternatively, LTD can be initiated at inactive
• There are two basic types of long-term depression, homosynaptic LTD, which is
directly input-specific, and heterosynaptic LTD, which results from a modulated rather than
potentiated effect.
• In homosynaptic LTD the activity in an
individual neuron alters the efficiency of the synaptic connection between that neuron (the presynaptic neuron) and its target (the
postsynaptic neuron) where the synaptic
connection is typically weakened as a result of low-frequency potentiation or an extended
• In heterosynaptic LTD the activity of a
particular neuron (a modulatory neuron or
interneuron) results in changes in the strength of the synaptic connection between another pair of neurons through the release of
neuromodulators that effect the efficacy of the synapse of the other pair of neurons. The weakening of the synaptic connection
between the other pair of neurons is
independent of the activity of the presynaptic or postsynaptic neuron of the pair. This type of LTD is referred to as a process of modulatory input-dependent plasticity.
• Neuromodulators (in particular, serotonin and dopamine) differ from classical
neurotransmitters. Typically, neuromodulators do not directly generate electrical responses in target neurons. Rather, the release of
neuromodulators often alters the efficacy of neurotransmission in nearby chemical
synapses. Furthermore, the impact of
• LTD is an important process that features in selectively weakening specific synapses in order to make constructive use of the
selective strengthening process of LTP. This is necessary for two vital reasons.
• In the first, if synapses were allowed to continue increasing in strength and all
synapses reached maximum strength with no mechanism for reducing synaptic strength, no new information could be encoded, since
synaptic strength modulation is an
indispensable element in the process by which new experience and new learning are
•
In the second, if all synapses were
permanent, regardless of lack of efficiency
or use, not only would the number of
synapses reach a ceiling level very early in a
pe so s life, p e e ti g the ge e atio of
any new neuronal connections, but also
neurocircuit efficiency would be highly
compromised by a diffusion of synaptic
noise created by the extraneous or
irrelevant synapses that, through inactivity
resulting from the changing circumstances
of life, lost their usefulness in a specific
neuronal connection.
• What this means is that, for a person to continue to perceive and assimilate new experiences throughout
the pe so s life he the actual number of synapses are kept at a relatively stable count (with perhaps some natural reduction) throughout adult life (at a maximum estimate of 500 trillion), superfluous synapses are
eliminated both to minimize neurocircuit noise and to make room for new synaptic connections in recognition of, and reaction to, ongoing new environmental stimuli and the continuing experiences of life and learning, as the generation of new synapses (both in increasing the connective strength between a pair of presynaptic and postsynaptic neurons, and in the construction of new interconnections of neuronal circuits) is an essential component of the process by which new experience and new learning are registered in the brain.
• One of the essential components of the
critical synaptic elimination process is synaptic pruning by microglial cells in conjunction with the mechanism of long-term depression that weakens the less used, redundant and
ineffectual synapses and marks the ineffective synapses for elimination through the
macrophagic action of microglia in response to the constant monitoring of the condition of synaptic connections. Synapses that have
been weakened by the process of LTD are
• Regulatory synaptic pruning in the brain constituting the life-long learning process has also often been referred to as small-scale axon terminal arbor pruning, reflecting the position that synaptic pruning is basically a mechanism of disengagement of axon terminals from synaptic connections, which may include the processes of axon degeneration, axon shedding or axon retraction; however the
particular molecular process remains unclear with a number of new studies implicating, as previously described, phagocytosis by
microglial cells as an integral process of both developmental and ongoing homeostatic synaptic pruning in the brain (Tremblay et al. 2011; Paolicelli et al. 2011: Yong 2014; Wake et al. 2013; Hughes 2012; Ji et al. 2013).
Hughes V (2012). Microglia: The constant gardeners. Nature 485(7400): 570-2.
Ji K, Miyauchi J & Tsrika SE (2013). Microglia: An active player in the regulation of synaptic activity. Neural Plasticity 2013. Article ID 627325. http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2013/627325.
Paolicelli RC, Bolasco G, Pagani F, Maggi L, Scianni M, Panzanelli P, Giustetto M, Ferriera TA, Guiducci E, Dumas L,
Ragozzino D & Gross CT (2011). Synaptic pruning by microglia is necessary for normal brain development. Science 333(6048): 1456-8. doi: 10.1126/science.1202529.
Tremblay M-È, Stevens B, Sierra A, Wake H, Bessis A & Nimmerjahn A (2011). The role of microglia in the healthy brain. Journal of Neuroscience 31(45): 16064-69.
Wake H, Moorhouse AJ, Miyamoto A & Nabekura J (2013). Microglia: Actively surveying and shaping neuronal circuit structure and function. Trends in Neuroscience 36(4): 209-17.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.tins.2012.11.007.
Yong E (2014). Pruning synapses improves brain connections. The Scientist.
• Synaptic pruning in brain development has been defined as consisting of two main
phenomena, synapse disassembly and process elimination.
– Synapse disassembly has been defined as an
extremely dynamic process of the removal of only a small subpopulation of synaptic connections
that is to large degree common throughout the developing nervous system.
In synapse disassembly synapses relatively stronger than neighboring competing synapses that input to an identical target seem to diminish in size and shift position to usurp that of the competitive input, the stronger synapse maintaining its innervation of the target with the weaker input both disassembling its
– Process elimination is a phenomenon that occurs in the regressive stages of development and
consists of both the small-scale pruning of
dendrites in the neocortex, and the large-scale pruning of long axon collaterals of layer V cortical projections that can reach millimeters in length. It has been suggested that developmental process elimination can involve a number of different
• In addition to all the various mechanisms of synaptic pruning discussed above, it has also been determined that astrocytes play an
indispensable role, not only in synaptic pruning in the brain but also in synaptogenesis and LTP (see for example Ota, Zanetta & Hallock 2015; Chung et al. 2013, Tasdemir-Yalmaz & Freeman 2015, Clarke & Barres 2013), and are therefore critical to synaptic strength modulation in the brain.
Chung WS, Clarke LE, Wang GX, Stafford BK, Sher A, Chakraborty C, Joung J, Foo LC, Thompson A, Chen C, Smith SJ & Barres BA (2013). Astrocytes mediate synapse elimination through MEGF10 and MERTK
pathways. Nature 504(7480): 394-400. doi: 10.1038/nature12776.
Clarke LE & Barres BA (2013). Emerging roles of astrocytes in neural circuit development. Nature Reviews Neuroscience 14(5): 311-21. doi: 10.1038/nrn3484.
Ota Y, Zanetta AT & Hallock RM (2013). The role of astrocytes in the regulation of synaptic plasticity and memory formation. Neural Plasticity 2013. Article ID 185463.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2013/185463.
Tasdemir-Yalmaz OE & Freeman MR (2015). Astrocytes engage unique molecular programs to engulf pruned neuronal debris from distinct subsets of neurons. Genes and Development 28(1): 20-33.
• In all the previous discussion of synaptic
strength modulation in the brain and latterly synaptic pruning in regulating relative
neuronal connective strength, we have
considered the chemical synapse exclusively; however, recent studies have identified that a different type of synapse in the brain, the
electrical synapse, plays a pivotal role in
82
• Studies have shown that not only do chemical synapses modulate electrical synapses (see for example Smith & Pereda 2003) but that electrical synapses are critical for chemical synapse function (see for example Lieff 2014) and are subject to both long-term potentiation (LTP) and long-term depression (LTD) like chemical synapses (see for example Haas, Zavala & Landisman 2011; and Wang, Neely & Landisman 2015) that effect the excitability of the postsynaptic neuron.
Haas JS, Zavala B & Landisman CE (2011). Activity-dependent long-term depression of electrical synapses. Science 334(6054): 389–93. doi: 10.1126/science.1207502.
Lieff J (2014). Electrical synapses are critical for chemical synapse function.
jonlieffmd.com/blog/electrical-synapses-are-critical-for-chemical-synapse-function#comment-1565109975.
Smith M & Pereda AE (2003). Chemical synaptic activity modulates nearby electrical synapses. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 100(8): 4849-54. doi: 10.1073/pnas.0734299100.
Wang Z, Neely R & Landisman CE (2015). Activation of group I and group II metabotropic glutamate receptors causes LTD and LTP of electrical synapses in the rat thalamic reticular nucleus. Journal of Neuroscience 35(19): 7616-25. doi:
10.1523/JNEUROSCI.3688-14.2015.
• It has been estimated that a single neuron in the human brain can have up to 20,000 synapses (one type of neuron, the Purkinje cell in the
cerebellum, may have as many as 170-200 thousand synapses as
determined in rat studies – see for example Napper and Harvey 1988) and that there are typically somewhere on the order of 86 billion
neurons in the adult human brain, with the maximum number of synapses in the adult human brain estimated at between 150-500
trillion. With the interminable complexity of incalculable combinations and permutations of all the interactions of synaptogenesis, synaptic blooming and pruning, LTP/LTD, synaptic scaling, chemical and
electrical synapse reciprocal interplay, and the multitudinous synaptic input and output of a single neuron in interconnection with a vast
array of other neurons, it is clear that patterns of neuronal
interconnections in the human brain are practically infinite, constantly changing, and that each macrostructural change is the mechanism of neurophysiological representation of the perception and
internalization of an element of a new experience, thought, or
memory, all the elements associated with each experience interlinked by specific patterns of neuronal interconnectivity constituting the
process of apperception expressed through the ceaseless neuroplasticity of the human brain.
• However vast the above estimated numbers of synaptic connections in the
ai , the a pale i ag itude to the t ue o ple it of the ai s
interconnections. A new study has discovered synaptic connectivity never before seen. Introducing innovative 3D color-coded brain imaging at
nanoscale resolution using a new automated tape-based serial electron microscopy technique, the study provided a detailed analysis of the
o e ti it et ee e itato a o s a d spi es i a ouse s ai which suggests that axons are more likely to innervate multiple spines of the
same dendrite than expected by chance encounters based on overlap, revealing that the complexity of the brain is much more than what had ever been imagined (Kasthuri et al. 2015). In the study the researchers
found that the sheer magnitude of neuronal connections that make up the brain imposed a huge challenge – one that made the authors question
whether the finished product justified its use, concluding that their effort
la s a e the ag itude of the p o le o f o ti g neuroscientists who
seek to u de sta d the ai . Noti g that the deg ee of al ost
i o p ehe si le o ple it the dis o e ed as o se ed i a ouse s
brain and considering that a human brain has far more neuronal
complexity, the resistance of the human brain to revealing its deep secrets is clearly demonstrated in its almost-impossible-to-understand, and,
perhaps, truly-impossible-to-understand intricacies.
Kasthuri N, Hayworth KJ, Berger DR, Schalek RL, Conchello JA, Knowles-Barley S, Lee D, Vázquez-Reina A, Kaynig V, Jones TR, Roberts M, Morgan JL, Tapia JC, Seung HS, Roncal WG, Vogelstein JT, Burns R, Sussman DL, Priebe CE, Pfister H & Lichtman JW (2015).
Saturated reconstruction of a volume of neocortex. Cell 162(3):648-61.
• Although many of the details of the molecular mechanisms involved in the macrostructural processes of synaptic strength modulation, synaptic pruning and other macrostructural
processes that contribute to neuroplasticity in the human brain remain unclear, as do the details of the ways in which those processes interact with each other, and whether or not the incredible complexity of the human brain will remain
forever impenetrable, one thing is clear; that the principal macrostructural mechanisms involved in the neuroplasticity of the human brain directly
affected by learning and experience are
• At the gross macrostructural level of the
human brain, neuroplasticity is predominantly a function of synaptic strength modulation
through synaptic blooming and pruning by the interaction of LTP and LTD. Through LTP, and LTD, selected synapses are persistently
strengthened, or weakened, respectively, based on neurocircuit activity. A persistent weakening leads to the elimination of the
synapse by the triggering of synaptic pruning. Synapse elimination (pruning) allows the
formation of new synapses with no superfluous synapses, maintaining
homeostasis (a relatively stable synaptic
• A strengthened synapse provides a
long-lasting, efficient connection between a pair of presynaptic and postsynaptic neurons for
tightly-coupled neurocircuit integration necessary for deep internalization of an
• By both changing relative synaptic strength through the selective strengthening and
weakening of synapses, which produces
different neurocircuit interactions, and by the elimination of weakened synapses through
the triggering of synaptic pruning, enabling synaptogenesis and the variability of the
number of synapses innervating a specific
neuronal connection as well as the formation of new neuronal connections, the interaction of LTP and LTD is the principal mechanism for changing the patterns of neuronal
• This ceaseless changing of patterns of
neuronal interconnections in the human brain is defined as neuroplasticity and represents the constant reaction, impression and
internalization of each and every experience of an individual throughout every moment of
the i di idual s life. Neu oplasti it th ough
the interaction of LTP and LTD is the mechanism of knowing about and
• Every single change (no matter how minute) in the gross macrostructural pattern of neuronal
interconnections in the brain represents the
perception, impression and internalization of an
element or elements of a new experience – something newly learned, newly understood, an idea newly
formed or reformed or seen from a different
perspective, new information added to what was
already known or a whole way of thinking abandoned from a new insight. Every experience is a new
experience no matter how many times the same sound has been heard, the same sight seen, the same vista of the backyard revisited, each time it is a new experience transformed by all the minute experiences and subtle changes of perception and new associations acquired since the last moment the vista or sound was
• Every thought or contemplation is a new experience represented by a change in the
pattern of interconnections in the brain. Every human experience is represented by a unique pattern of neuronal interconnections in the brain. Every experience is a learning
experience by which some understanding is arrived at through interpretation of the
e pe ie e, ut i the effo t to i te p et o e s
experiences misinterpretation can arise,
• Although there are non-Hebbian as well as
Hebbian types of LTP and LTD, both LTP and LTD basically operate on the Hebbian principle of
eu o s that fi e togethe i e togethe ; that is, the use it o lose it p i iple, hi h ea s
that persistent reverberatory action in the
repeated firing of a presynaptic neuron in the firing of a postsynaptic neuron bonds the pre- and postsynaptic neurons together in a
tightly-coupled, strong communication channel; whereas infrequency or lack of reverberatory action
• In achieving positive-directed learning and behavioral
out o es, this use it o lose it phe o e a a e
stimulated in individuals to simultaneously induce coherent, affirmative learning and behavior and
eliminate negative or faulty learning and ineffectual or self-detrimental behavior, and, through
positive-directed learning with intact neuroplasticity, restore
cognitive potency across a broad range of conditions of cognitive impairment. The key to effecting
positive-directed learning, self-actualizing behavior and effective cognitive functioning is the enriched
environment which stimulates LTP in positive learning
experiences, simultaneously stimulating LTD in
weakening and eliminating the patterns of neuronal interconnections constituting negative cognitive
• The enriched environment contains strong, affirmative, stimulating, deep, constantly reinforced learning experiences that trigger persistent reverbatory action in neuronal connections, and through such continually reinforced action changing thought patterns, weakens the reverbatory action of neuronal interconnections representing faulty learning and ineffectual or detrimental cognitive
constructs through lack of excitatory action as excitatory action is dominated by the
affirmative learning and newly configured
thought patterns that constantly reinforce the positive-directed learning.
Neuroplasticity, Apperception and
Memory
• Neurophysiologically the internalization of new experience through apperception is the process of variable enhancement and reduction of the strength of existing neuronal connections by
which new patterns of connectivity are formed. Conversely, the conscious recall of particular
experiences and the subliminal access to the aggregate of past experience that occurs in
apperception through which new experience is mediated and interpreted, are manifested
through the activation of the patterns of
neuronal circuit interconnections generated in the internalization of those experiences as
• From this understanding we can clearly equate
learning, cognition, understanding, knowledge and
memory as indistinguishable, inextricable components of the mechanism of apperception – apperception,
learning, understanding, cognition, knowledge, and memory simply interchangeable terms for the same process – each thought, idea, feeling, memory, etc., simply a unique pattern of neuronal interconnectivity.
• For example, memory is not simply the recall of the recording of details of stimuli, phenomena or events
experienced, but the recall of the internalization of that experience in accordance with preexisting cognitive
schemata that interpret the experience and ascribe an emotive impression to the experience, selectively
• The process of remembering is not just a
question of first making an accurate record in the mind of the information we receive or the events we experience and then simply recalling the
experience or event, but the fitting of the new information or new experiences into the
knowledge and understanding of the world
already stored in the interconnected neuronal networks of the brain, creating a new narrative that makes sense of the new information in
conjunction with what we already know and the perceptions that we have formed about the
• Recording an event, information, experience, etc., as a memory, is not simply recording a full
representation of everything connected with the experience and all the sensory information that we have seen, heard, felt, and/or smelled or
tasted and how we may have acted in any
particular experience, but only those aspects that we have focused on, some details given more
emphasis, others less, and still others not noticed or recorded at all, depending upon our emotional state in our understanding or response to the
experience and our interest in the experience
itself and the details of which it is comprised. We do not record an event per se, but only our
• All our stored information, the aggregate of all past experience, is changed – enhanced or
distorted – modified to some degree by the
information of each new experience, at the same time the aggregate of all past experience, that is, the cognitive schemata or residuum of all
experience, is always present but not conscious, as consciousness (i.e., articulate awareness) is a manifestation of intention or directedness
towards something, a deliberate recall of specific data, events, interactions with specific people, etc., therefore, the vast proportion of our
cognitive schemata remains subliminal, operating below conscious (articulately aware) recognition, but always active and shaping our thoughts,
• Individual consciousness therefore may be
defined as a selective, directed access of discrete components within the multilevel continuum of the sum total of the cognitive schemata of the mind in the reaction to and interaction with sensory and extrasensory stimuli as shaped by internal phenomena (i.e., what we have learned and how we have learned it through our
experience – how one learns determines what
one learns and what one learns determines how
one behaves). Consciousness then is an
intentional, constantly varying manifestation of learning formed from, and directed by, the sum total of cognitive schemata derived through
apperception.
• The innumerable internal and external sensory inputs or experiences that are ceaselessly being processed into patterns of information by the brain to form impressions and build associational constructs, mental images and schemas and personal knowledge databases, are so vast and complex, that they would swamp and totally
overwhelm the articulately aware or conscious mind. If such interminably complex and intertwining substratum activities were conscious, all attention would be totally absorbed in analyzing how each and every stimulus is
related to every other stimulus and how such relationships are processed and internalized — and we would starve to death dwelling on the sensations and impressions of being hungry rather than forming a broad perception of the world that would enable our interaction with that world to obtain the nourishment needed to sustain life. The vast proportion of human functioning and understanding then is subliminal and inaccessible to articulate awareness or
• Individual worldview, and indeed, personality itself, is based on our own unique disposition of the
mechanisms of the sense organs for vision, hearing, smell, touch and taste and other intricate physiological functioning including neuronal activity and all other physical and biological properties that affect to what extent we are able to perceive various stimuli; and how such stimuli are processed and internalized into levels of awareness and intellectual proclivities; that,
together, make each of us unique in our abilities, motivations, desires, styles of communication, emotional responsiveness, etc. Our essence is
composed of phenotype-personality-worldview with a constant interaction with our internal and external
environment in an ongoing dynamic at a substratum below the level of articulate awareness that,
accumulatively, modifies or remolds our phenotype-personality-worldview.
• Cognition, composed of innumerable cognitive constructs which in turn are
composed of innumerable highly subtle, complex, dynamic interactions beyond the power of the mind to intelligibly connect in
any holistic conscious configuration (that is, in its entirety, is beyond directly accessible
articulate awareness), is experienced by
articulate awareness only in
inner-cognitive-d i e sele ti e hu ks of limited directedness, which we refer to as
• Even these hu ks of di e ted ess, or
consciousness, are experienced only as highly confined, thin, surface concretizations or
conceptualizations, whereby the
overwhelming extent of the vast complex of the underlying cognitive schemata driving the direction of attention of articulate awareness, beyond vocabulary and articulation to
discriminate in all its complexities and
intricate subtleties and paradoxes of feelings and impressions, remains elusive to the
• Cognition: Defined herein as the unique patterns of connections,
associations, relationships and reasoning by which the individual
recognizes, categorizes and internalizes the constituents of her or his environment and forms a self identity. Cognition constitutes the
processes by which the individual applies meaning to all that she or he senses and feels from her or his environment and internally constructs within her or his mind, and the schemata derived therefrom. Cognition is a predominantly subliminal process experienced in articulate
awareness only in fleeting, ever- ha gi g su fa e hu ks of consciousness.
• Mind: Defined herein as the embodiment of cognition; the unique
collective sets of cognitive constructs and the interrelationships
the eof i.e., the i di idual s u i ue og iti e s he ata and the behavioral effects of that cognitive schemata. The mind is an
abstraction of the effects of the collective sum of all the interlocked mechanisms of the neurophysiological actions of the patterns of
• Behavior: Defined herein as the expression of the
mind in interaction with self and the external environment.
• Consciousness: Defined herein as an
ever-changing moment-to-moment peak of articulate awareness into a narrow window of a minute
portion of the surface of the total configuration of experiences, impressions and intentions
unique to each individual as encoded in the cognitive schemata of the mind.
• Subliminal: The state of cognitive functioning
that both generates and consists of the cognitive schemata and remains below the threshold of articulate awareness, that though directs
conscious behavior, is not accessible to consciousness.
• From these definitions, the terms cognitive
schemata, cognition, mind and behavior are all part of what is fundamentally a single
phenomenon, the terms simply referring to slightly different perspectives and/or
manifestations of that phenomenon, with
o s ious ess o a ti ulate a a e ess a li ited
condition of this phenomenon. Additionally, we can understand a cognitive construct as simply any single set of conceptual components formed from a specific experience and undergoing
Social Integration, Cognition and
Behavior
• Through the process of evolution, by which the human brain developed as a social brain, whereby all learning and behavior is constructed within the ongoing
mechanism of socialization and all experience and
understanding is internalized in a social context, for all human beings socialized and living in a community and society, behavior is a product of, and response to, social integration or lack thereof. All psychological problems, i.e., all behavioral or cognitive problems, may then be said to be social integration problems – and since
• Succinctly, since behavior is the expression of the mind in interaction with self and the
external environment, and the mind is the embodiment of cognition, any behavioral
problem is in fact a cognitive problem and vice versa, the two terms are completely
interchangeable and translate into a problem of social integration, which in turn translates into a problem of learning. Learning is the
process by which social integration is
achieved, and social integration defines the extent to which cognition and behavior are effectively adjusted for positive interaction
ith o e s e i o e t.
Social Integration Problems
• Social integration problems are divided into two distinct types: 1) degradation of cognitive
resources, and 2) faulty learning or distorted cognitive schemata.
• Degradation of cognitive resources constitutes an impairment of core cognitive capacity which may be manifested in one or more of the basic
categories of observable gross behavior that
include attention, memory, problem solving and social sense, whereby the dysfunction in any one or in various combinations of two or more of
these categories undermines the ability to
• The categories of so-called observable gross behavior, consisting of
atte tio , e o , p o le sol i g a d so ial se se, a e useful and necessary for understanding different abilities that may be observed in individuals and in addressing cognitive deficits that may be presented within any one or more of those behavioral domains; however, such behavioral domains are hypothetical constructs distinguished by the context in which the behavior is observed in accordance with the modal conventions of culture, society and community and the prevailing
definitions of particular human actions and responses. We do not know
hat is eall i the i di idual s i d a d hat is ehi d the eha io that e thi k e see, assu e a d i te p et. It ould e that a i di idual s
seeming inattention is a natural response to the distraction of a profound and continuing grief at the loss of a loved one and has nothing to do with any real degradation of cognitive resources but a normal situational
• All observed gross behavior is a result of interminably complex cognitive processing that directs particular interactions with self and the
environment based on life history, personality, life plan, and reaction in accordance with the perceived effect of, or social opportunity presented in, each situation. Cognition is an inherently interactive process, forming cognitive constructs from the associations and perceived relationships of the stimuli constituting a particular experience and extrapolating
situation-dependent conceptualizations in the interplay among the
accumulative, constantly modified cognitive constructs continually formed from every experience. Cognition cannot be divided into distinct
components or types or different behavioral outcomes, as it is a
mechanism of massively complex, continuous interaction. Therefore, observed gross behavior, a product of cognition, is driven by a complex interaction of cognitive constructs that cannot be defined by simplistic, shallow categories. Every behavioral outcome is the expression of a unique
cognitive interplay. What may appear, or assumed, on the surface, to be similar actions, are actually expressions of different, not infrequently very different and even incompatible cognitive constructions,
• O se a le g oss eha io that is, hat e thi k e see i a othe s a tio s o espo ses as defi ed so io ultu al o s a e si ple,
surface manifestations of cognition, a facility that is indivisible into discrete components as all aspects of cognition are integrated,
inextricable elements of any aspect of cognition.
• Such observable actions of attention, memory, problem solving and social sense are merely constructs of each other, the interpreted manifestations of the unified process of basic cognition – a
neurophysiological construction of highly integrated interconnectivity of neuronal circuits that span the entire brain and react to all stimuli (external and internal; i.e., apperception, including the new cognitive orientation formed from the internal reconfiguration of conceptual frameworks) by the modification of synaptic connections – but by no means do such observed actions convey the intertwining conceptual frameworks which initiated them.
• While observable gross behavior consists of socioculturally defined hypothetical constructs that are blind to the underlying cognitive formulations that drive the behavior, unique to each individual and each self-perceived situation of the individual, the observed repetition of apparent difficulties in attention, memory, problem solving and/or social sense in different tasks and contexts are important in discovering and diagnosing a deficit in cognitive functioning impeding the
• Faulty learning or distorted cognitive
schemata refers to problematic thinking and behavior that disturbs a i di idual s self
-fulfillment in the effective conception and negotiation of her or his environment in the establishment and achievement of
appropriate individual goals and in meeting social responsibilities, regardless of the state of her or his cognitive resources.
• The degradation of cognitive resources and faulty learning are not mutually exclusive and an individual with a social integration problem can have both conditions to lesser or greater degree.
• Generally, those that exhibit a degradation of core cognitive resources will also have faulty (usually underdeveloped) cognitive schemata; whereas many individuals with faulty or
distorted cognitive schemata may have fully
Social Integration, Learning and the
Enriched Environment
• All operant behavior, including social integration, is learned.
• All learning takes place in a social context and all
positi e, lasti g lea i g takes pla e i a e i hed
environment (or, in negative learning, in an
impoverished environment – i po e ished efe i g to a lack of sufficient positive stimuli or experiences, including lack of social interaction and lack of, or
inappropriate social or interpersonal bonding).
• An enriched environment is one that has constancy, maintains a bonding group dynamic, provides
challenging but not overambitious eclectic learning experiences and is positive, reinforcing, stimulating, rewarding, encouraging, supportive, and full of
possibilities.
• As new thought patterns and cognitive constructs emerge from engaged, affirmative, self-fulfilling
learning experiences within the enriched environment,
oth the depth a d eadth of the i di idual s
cognitive core is exercised, strengthened and
continually expanded through the introduction of new ideas, ways of thinking, frameworks of knowledge and understanding that open up ever-multiplying doors of possibilities. The richness of experience of bonding with and developing respect for and appreciation of others and the joy of belonging and acceptance in group identity and sharing discovery and feelings
ope s up the i di idual s self-conceptualization and
• The constancy of the socially infused, deeply engaged learning experiences within the enriched environment and the numerous reexaminat
