Brain Plasticty - The science behind all of it.

"The purpose of fighting is to win.  There is no possible victory in defense. The sword is more important than the shield and skill is more important than either.  The final weapon is the brain."  John Steinbeck

When John Steinbeck wrote: "the final weapon is trhe brain", I dont think he realized how amazingly profound a statement he made particularly in light of recent scientific findings.  Neural Plasticity or brain plasticity may be foreign words to the law enforcement, military or the security community, but recent brain research has tremendious impact on the way officers can now train to increase the power of their brains.  According to Dr. Michael Merzenich, one of the world's leading neuro scientist, brain plasticity is the greatest discovery in brain science in the past 400 years.  

It was previously thought that the brain we were born with developed as we grew and then began to deteriorate in our senior years.  Terms, like "senior moments" have crept into our vocabulary as individuals approach old age and feel they are losing their memory.  Even my kids at very young ages in grade school had "brain farts".  I can't remember (Hmmmm) how many times I had to turn around to get a forgotten lunch or homework.  Although forgetfulness can occur at any age, unfortunately for many seniors this has become truly a self-fulfilling prophecy that can be changed.

It was also firmly believed that specific regions of the brain were entirely responsible for various functions, such as vision, hearing, speech, movement, etc.  This was called brain localization.  Guess what?  New scientific research and evidence has proven that this is entirely wrong and the brain can continue to develop and change throughout our lives.  The importance of this research is so significant that it can be compared to early explorers discovering that the world wasn't flat.  Recearch has proven that even if one of our sense is damaged or if the brain itself is damaged other areas of the brain can take over and be developed. These recent findings provide significant oppotunities for education, mental health, aging and treating people through brain training.

 So what in the world does this have to do with keeping you safer on the streets? Actually it has everything to do with how we train to respond to threats and danger.  Whether it be driving a squad car or confronting an armed felon, the visual cortex in our brain can be trained through brain plasticity to have better acuity and precision in what we perceive.  How we react to any situation is tthe culmination of our neural networks and brain functions.

This is not "psycho babble" or psudo science.  Brain plasticity has been rigorously tested and it has been proven that our brains re-wire themselves throughout our life time.  

Law enforcement administrators are notorious "slow adaptors" phrases like "we have always done it that way" often prevail.  However, with the continued number of officer deaths, increased litigation, trying to do more with less and significant new challenges being faced by LE, the law enforcement community must embrace new ways of doing the job.  Brain plasticity and brain training exercises are the means to get the edge on our adversaries and improve officer safety.  With a very small investment and a minimal amount of time, officers can train themselves to increase their visual acuity and critical decision making skills.  To use a poor pun:

Sounds like a...   No Brainer!