Successful musicians put in hours of practice from an early age. But is all that practice really necessary? Is talent alone – with a bit of practice – not enough? How does the brain change with practice, and can you create a genius?
The girl with half a brain
The girl without the right hemisphere of her brain functions pretty normally. How is this possible?
Nature and nurture: congenital and acquired
Is it Nature or Nurture, congenital or acquired? The answer is actually quite simple: everything is Nature and Nurture. The structure of the brain determines what we can learn and what we learn determines the structure of the brain.
Growth and pruning: the brain of a child
A newborn baby cannot speak, it sees almost nothing, and controlled movements of its arms and legs are minimal. After being born he learns through significant changes in the brain. These are a condition for and also a result of this learning process.