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Neuroplasticity is an extraordinary thing. With proper consistent mental exercise and training, you can improve your working memory and focus back to what it us

Neuroplasticity is an extraordinary thing. With proper consistent mental exercise and training, you can improve your working memory and focus back to what it used to be if not better.

meowface 7y ago
Inspirational messages are good, and there's certainly a good chance that you're right in this case, but I also don't think it's a great idea to speak with such certainty. I mean, they had a brain tumor which could've been causing damage itself, plus radiation to the brain, invasive brain surgery, altered brain blood flow during the surgery, general anesthetic... That's serious stuff affecting the most complex machine we're aware of. The brain can be capable of amazing feats of recovery, but it's always going to vary based on someone's pre-existing genetics, environment, age, and the specific damage they might have incurred. Recovery back to baseline absolutely may be possible for them, but there's really no way to know that for sure when dealing with something so serious and without knowing many other factors. Hope is good, but sugarcoated false hope isn't.
- lawrenceyan 7y ago
  Sorry, I didn't see this until just now. I wish HN had some kind of notification feature (cough dang save us please cough). I don't think I'm sugarcoating, at least not in the sense of how the word is usually defined. We know neuroplasticity is real. It isn't just some placebo. Regardless of what part of the brain was affected, because of neuroplasticity, he/she can recover functionality through exercise and training. I agree with you that this won't always be the case, and at some point, brain dead is pretty much brain dead like in the case of survivors of gunshot wounds to the head for example. But given the eloquence of the poster's comment, I think the kind of situation we're looking at here is of a different class.

Neuroplasticity is an extraordinary thing. With proper consistent mental exercise and training, you can improve your working memory and focus back to what it used to be if not better.

meowface 7y ago

Inspirational messages are good, and there's certainly a good chance that you're right in this case, but I also don't think it's a great idea to speak with such certainty. I mean, they had a brain tumor which could've been causing damage itself, plus radiation to the brain, invasive brain surgery, altered brain blood flow during the surgery, general anesthetic... That's serious stuff affecting the most complex machine we're aware of. The brain can be capable of amazing feats of recovery, but it's always going to vary based on someone's pre-existing genetics, environment, age, and the specific damage they might have incurred. Recovery back to baseline absolutely may be possible for them, but there's really no way to know that for sure when dealing with something so serious and without knowing many other factors. Hope is good, but sugarcoated false hope isn't.

lawrenceyan 7y ago
Sorry, I didn't see this until just now. I wish HN had some kind of notification feature (cough dang save us please cough). I don't think I'm sugarcoating, at least not in the sense of how the word is usually defined. We know neuroplasticity is real. It isn't just some placebo. Regardless of what part of the brain was affected, because of neuroplasticity, he/she can recover functionality through exercise and training. I agree with you that this won't always be the case, and at some point, brain dead is pretty much brain dead like in the case of survivors of gunshot wounds to the head for example. But given the eloquence of the poster's comment, I think the kind of situation we're looking at here is of a different class.