The brain has the consistency of room-temperature butter, according to Helen Neville, recent producer of a DVD that explains the effects of experience on human brain development.
Neville, director the University’s Brain Development Lab, has spent the last five years creating a film that explains what she has been researching for more than 30 years — the neuroscience of brain development.
“I have been funded by (National Institutes of Health) for about 30 years,” Neville said.
“And they never have asked me what I found with their money, so I decided to create this DVD to put it out there.”
The film, “Changing Brains: Effects of Experience on Human Development,” presents a simplistic overview of the human brain based on scientific studies performed by Neville and her colleagues at the Brain Lab.
“All of our findings are based on research,” Neville said. “That’s one of the hallmarks of the DVD that a lot of information out there doesn’t have.”
Neville hopes this DVD will explain brain development to “anyone who cares about it or for kids,” and that preschool programs, hospital take-home kits and grade schools will incorporate this film into their faculty and teaching trainings.
Neville said Oregon Health and Science University and Head Start of Lane County have already endorsed the DVD and pre-ordered copies for future showings.
“I can envision several parents watching the DVD together; the discussion would be fun and exciting,” HSLC’s Executive Director Annie Soto said. “I can also see where professionals could learn from the DVD.”
The DVD includes practical recommendations and information on the nine sections of the brain — from vision and hearing to emotions and learning — that are most affected by growing experiences.
“A good way to think about it is as though the brain was a block of clay,” Neville said. “A sculptor never ends up with as much clay as he started with as he molds his work, and this much is the same for synapses in a child brain.”
Neville said a child brain contains twice as many synapses and consumes twice as much energy as an adult brain, showing the experiences a child has as it grows has a great effect on the development of its brain.
“There is a general thought that the brain is in this fixed state where it is unchanged and predetermined like a kidney,” Neville said. “The DVD takes that theory apart almost line by line, and shows that all systems in the brain are dependent on experience.”
The College of Education’s Center on Teaching and Learning and the Office of the Vice President for Research both funded the production.
“This is a stellar example of how (the University’s) basic research in the science of the brain is being translated into practical tools that assist families in supporting child development and learning,” Vice President for Research and Graduate Studies Richard Linton said.
The DVD costs about $10, but Neville says their lab is not profiting from sales, as part of the funds go to creating the DVD and the rest to distributing it free of charge to those who can’t afford it.
Neville hopes to translate the DVD into Spanish and see popular demand for what she considers the very essence of “who we are.”
“‘Changing Brains is illustrative of (the University’s) pioneering programs that are broadly addressing fundamental questions of nature versus nurture in human development and behavior,” Linton said.
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