Central Nervous System & Wet Clay Metaphor
Brain plasticity—also called neuroplasticity—is an odd term for most people, with the word “plastic” causing images of Tupperware or Saran Wrap to pop into your head. However, brain plasticity is a common term used by neuroscientists, referring to the brain’s ability to change at any age—for better or worse. As you would imagine, this flexibility plays an incredibly important role in our brain development (or decline) and in shaping our distinct personalities.
Brain plasticity science is the study of a physical process. Gray matter can actually shrink or thicken; neural connections can be forged and refined or weakened and severed. Changes in the physical brain manifest as changes in our abilities. For example, each time we learn a new dance step, it reflects a change in our physical brains: new “wires” (neural pathways) that give instructions to our bodies on how to perform the step. Each time we forget someone’s name, it also reflects brain change—”wires”that once connected to the memory have been degraded, or even severed. As these examples show, changes in the brain can result in improved skills (a new dance step) or a weakening of skills (a forgotten name).
Clay is a type of fine-grained natural soil material containing clay minerals. Clays develop plasticity when wet, due to a molecular film of water surrounding the clay particles, but become hard, brittle, non–plastic and solid upon drying or firing.
Water is life, is motion (vitakinesis), and an element that can change forms instantly and naturally (shapeshifting).
Body is a term for the main pottery form of a piece. The main ingredient of the body is clay. There are several materials that are referred to as clay. The properties which make them different include: Plasticity, the malleability (is a substance’s ability to deform under pressure/compressive stress) of the body; the extent to which they will absorb water after firing; and shrinkage, the extent of reduction in size of a body as water is removed.
Cerebrospinal fluid has four major functions: (1) physical support of neural structures, (2) excretion and “sink” action, (3) intracerebral transport, and (4) control of the chemical environment of the central nervous system. Cerebrospinal fluid provides a “water jacket” of physical support and buoyancy.
The CSF is also protective because its volume changes reciprocally with changes in the volume of intracranial contents, particularly blood. Thus, the CSF protects the brain from changes in arterial and central venous pressure associated with posture, respiration, and exertion.
Because CSF bathes and irrigates the brain, including those regions known to participate in endocrine functions, the suggestion has been made that CSF may serve as a vehicle for intracerebral transport of biologically active substances. For example, hormone releasing factors, formed in the hypothalamus and discharged into the CSF of the third ventricle, may be carried in the CSF to their effective sites in the median eminence. The CSF may also be the vehicle for intracerebral transport of opiates and other neuroactive substances. An essential function of CSF is the provision and maintenance of an appropriate chemical environment for neural tissue.
