The Problem of Neurogenesis

You can't teach an old dog new tricks.

Not everybody agrees with this statement.

I once used a woman as a Spanish speaking interpreter. She was retired and had grandchildren but kept the interpreting as a side job. She inspired the mother of a child I saw to go back to school. The young mom even started to learn English! That interpreter told a story of how she learned Japanese after the age of 60. She believed in continued learning.

"You can't teach an old dog new tricks," didn't apply to this woman.

I once worked with kids who were targeted as potential dropouts. The thought was "Hurry up and teach them before the time is lost." I ended up finding out about the "re-entry student." Now we have lots of re-entry programs. Brains were learning at older ages. There was no 'Time's Up.'

These kids wouldn't be old dogs who couldn't learn new tricks.
 

"Human hippocampal neurogenesis drops sharply in children to undetectable levels in adults." https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/29513649/

We can see the results, but not the anatomical changes. It appears that "You can't teach an old dog new tricks." We know it's happening, but we can't detect it.

I relayed the story of Pedro Bach-y-Rita's remarkable recovery from a stroke, http://thoughtfulveg.blogspot.com/2013/10/intensive-brain-remaking.html. He gained back abilities, after having a stroke. An autopsy was done after he died. The following excerpt is from his son, Paul Bach-y-Rita's Wikipedia page:

In 1959, Bach-y-Rita's father, Pedro, suffered a cerebral infarction (stroke) which caused paralysis to one side of his body and damaged his ability to speak. George Bach-y-Rita—a psychiatrist and Paul's brother—succeeded in treating Pedro so that he was able to lead a normal life, despite the opinion of several doctors that this was impossible. When Pedro died, an autopsy, performed by Dr. Mary Jane Aguilar revealed that Paul's father Pedro had suffered a major stroke and suffered severe damage to a large portion of his brain stem, which had not repaired itself after the stroke. The fact that he had made such a significant recovery suggested that his brain had reorganized itself, providing evidence for neuroplasticity. 
^{https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Bach-y-Rita}

If Pedro Bach-y-Rita was to be going by guidelines, he couldn't do anything. This is seen in his autopsy...but we know differently. What is his proof of neuroplasticity? Is it his behavior? His brainstem is not repaired, so we don't see anything. I'm thinking a different type of scan to detect brain activity when he was alive could be used. That did not exist then, though.

Now you go to me. If you go to reports, I shouldn't be doing anything. My behavior tells you different. You are reading this. Something happened. Did neurogenesis happen? This old dog learned new tricks.

I'd like to see a current scan. Did some areas of my brain come back? Does it look like Pedro and the stroke left massive damage? Can we see what's going on?

How do we know?
 You can't touch this and you can't see this (in scans)...

 But you can read this.

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I say neurogenesis because there was nothing to wire to other than the brainstem. This rewiring process is known as neuroplasticity. It is also not recognized, although the concept has gained popularity in the last few years.

I only had a brainstem function, heart beat, despite records saying I was "decerebrate." This would be "no brain", but I did have some, but it was very little. I now breathe. Since this is a brainstem function and my brainstem was available, this could have been neuroplasticity. This did happen in the first year after my injury.

Talking and writing came later. Vocalizing a word warranted "semi" being placed in front of "vegetative." Years later I am not in a hospital and am published in a magazine, Stroke Connection magazine, page 9. This took years. Not only can you not see neurogenesis, but it takes a long time? (I may have a secondary condition speeding this up, but that is to be determined. It may be giving me the ability to write.)

This should all be studied but I am semi-vegetative. I cannot legally give consent.