Working in Movement

"One word: plastic." That was a bit of career advice to the main character in the movie The Graduate in the 1960s. Today that word might be plasticity. Neurotech Vendors Seek to Exploit Cortical Plasticity holds out the promise in an article on Neurotech Business Report.

One of the companies mentioned is Scientific Learning, which markets software aimed at children with language learning difficulties, who the company says have frequency discrimination deficiencies in the auditory cortex. One of the company's founders is Michael Merzenich, whose work was neatly reported on in The Mind and Brain. Merzenich has a newer venture, Neuroscience Solutions. It will focus on working with seniors, a rapidly expanding market.

In Seattle, Vertis Neuroscience targets the "stroke market" with training devices. What's promising, according to the article, is that "several studies have shown that functional mapping of the cerebral cortex after training-induced improvements in cognitive and motor tasks confirms that distinct changes in the organization and mapping of cortical areas accompanies these improvements." Sounds familiar to many movement educators, I bet.

Cortical plasticity is exciting and promising for everyone. What's most interesting about these companies to me is their commercialization of training and re-educations, rather than direct brain stimulation or pharmacology. If any of them succeeds, one of the most beneficial side-effects will be a business model that may be adaptable to other endeavors.

Movement education as a growing business? Some are at least trying it out in earnest. Good luck to them. I'll be watching with interest.