> At 02:31 PM 10/12/97 -0700, Tim Rhodes wrote:
>
> >On Fri, 10 Oct 1997, Sodom wrote:
> >
> >> I believe it was sceintific American, -no wait- it was a special
> on
> >> the brain i saw on PBS. I'll get the tape. Anyway, the idea was
> that
> >> almost all of your neural connections are made by the age of 10.
> This
> >> means that the things you learn at these ages get hard wired into
> the
> >> brain.
> >
> >IThis is counter to many things I've read. Are you sure its's not
> talking
> >about /structure/ and not /content/?
>
> I don't think he was implying content, but it is an interesting
> question to
> ask to what extent one will effect the other: how does structure limit
> our
> ability to learn and how does our learning influence the structure of
> our
> brain. As for this age limit on hard-wiring, it is not absolutely so.
>
> Yes, before our tenth year we can be programmed to recognize our
> parents
> and many other things, but that does not necessarily mean that we will
>
> remember everything we learned in that time... I don't remember how to
> play
> the piano, for instance. Another counter to the limit theory is
> bike-riding; once you learn how to ride a bike -save for physical
> injury -
> you cannot forget, no matter how old you are when you learn because it
>
> forms new connecitons in your neural net. Another interesting
> questions
> arises perhaps, too: What are the distinguishing characteristics of
> "hard-wired information" and "volitile information"? Or, how come I
> cannot
> forget how to ride a bike but I am always forgetting my car keys?
>
> ~kp
Just another little piece of info, There is a close correlation
between musical skills learned at this time and mathematical skills.
Music did better than computers at preparing the mind for mathematics.
It is somewhat understandable due to the fact that music and math are
very similar and that music is based on math.
And of course, 10 is not an exact age, but an average age. And
repitition is important to building the neural network. A year on the
piano will not last forever, but five years might. I stopped studying
piano at about 12, and can still kinda poke around and repeat musically
whatever i hear.
Sodom
Bill Roh