We learned in class about brain’s plasticity–Brain is sculpted by our genes but also by our experience, some type of injury or illness can modify our brain. Our brain is inborn, and in the past, some psychologists believe the brain can not be altered. But later on, scientists did some research and found that brain has the ability to modify itself due to injury or illness. By modifying, it’s referring to the brain’s ability to modify its own functions in certain areas or its physical structures.
I’ve read a story about a man named Ben, who got into a car accident with a truck (Morgans, 2019). He was sent to the hospital immediately, and then he was put in a coma for a week. When he woke up from the coma, he found that no one could understand him but a Chinese nurse. Surprisingly, he was speaking fluent Chinese to his families when he only learned really basic Chinese in high school. He didn’t realize he was speaking Chinese and was frustrated since people can’t understand him. Luckily, he didn’t forget how to speak English and he was able to communicate with people in English a few hours later. His parents were worried about him, so they asked a neurologist to do a brain check for him. And the neurologist told them due to the car accident, his brain is modified, the left hemisphere is damaged and the right hemisphere now is taking the responsibility of managing language. And according to past experiments and research, English speakers use more of their left hemisphere when Chinese speakers use both hemispheres. And because his left hemisphere is resting, the right brain is managing language, his old Mandarin memory becomes more accessible and his Mandarin becomes more natural than English.
This story showed us the brain’s plasticity–its ability to modify its function due to injury or illness. Because of the car accident, Ben’s brain’s left side was damaged, which drives the brain to modify its old functions on that side and makes the right side to take over it. And this is why Ben becomes more fluent in Chinese than English.
Reference:
Morgans, Julian. “Meet the Guy Who Woke From a Coma Speaking Another Language.” Vice, 28 June 2019, www.vice.com/en_uk/article/3k3w8w/ben-mcmahon-woke-car-accident-coma-speaking-chinese-mandarin-language.