Working in Movement

Scientific American Special Edition on the Mind reports on a study (page 6) that suggests a lack of "standard" neural circuitry doesn't necessarily severely limit a function normally associated with that circuitry. Yale professor Sally Shaywitz and her associates studied reading disorders using brain imaging technology. The study divided the readers into three groups: normal readers, slow readers (who had developed better comprehension by slowing their reading speed), and poor readers. Brain images taken in the study show different brain circuits at work in normal readers and slow readers. This suggests the slow readers' brains had compensated for the lack of circuits by developing other pathways for reading.

What's interesting about this is the idea that alternate pathways can be found if you stop doing the habitual thing and allow enough sensory information, by awareness, that new options can be found and new patterns explored and maybe adopted. We know that this works standard movement type stuff, i.e., turning, bending, extending, etc. But it's particularly interesting here because reading is not a pure movement activity. If the world can be divided into moving, sensing, feeling and thinking, then reading is pretty heavily in the thinking camp and lightly in the movement area. Yet the idea of slowing down enough to make more accurate distinctions, as we do in movement education, worked to change the neural patterns behind the reading activity.

So it turns out that everyone doesn't need the same neural circuitry to function in the world. It seems to be a matter of creating an environment where distinctions can be made. In short, learning.