Sensory and cognitive plasticity: implications for academic interventions

Abstract

Research in neuroscience has great potential for transforming education. However, the brain systems that support academic and cognitive skills are poorly understood in comparison to the systems that support sensory processing. Decades of basic research have examined the role that brain plasticity plays in the genesis and treatment of developmental visual disorders, which may help to inform how cognitive training approaches can be tailored for students who experience environmental disadvantage. In this review, we draw parallels between visual and cognitive intervention approaches, and suggest research avenues that could inform educational practice in the future.

Figure 1. Theoretical relationships between sensory and cognitive plasticity

A. Greater plasticity is associated with both greater intervention efficacy and greater susceptibility to deprivation and disadvantage. However, note here that efficacy reflects a response to an intervention applied at a fixed interval in time, not to the time at which the root cause is removed. The onset of peak plasticity may be synchronous or asynchronous across systems, and the systems might share the same duration of heightened plasticity (symmetric) or cognitive plasticity may last longer (asymmetric). B. Across individuals, the age of peak sensory plasticity may or may not predict the age of peak cognitive plasticity, i.e., they may be correlated or independent. Although not shown, in these plots overall differences in synchronicity as illustrated in A would appear as uniform shifts of all points along one axis relative to the other.