Experience Dependent Plasticity Analysis
This week, for my perceptual phenomenon, I have chosen to write about experience-dependent plasticity. Defined in our text, this basically means an individual’s partiality towards the way things have always been for them; their influences and habits of their personal experiences (Goldstein, 2010). In the military, regardless of which branch, this perceptual phenomenon can make or break a team environment due to the way individuals are willing to receive change and or have the ability and knowledge to move from familiar situations into something with less recognizable surroundings. According to our text, raising an individual in an environment with only one type of stimuli results in the individual being predominantly geared towards those stimuli (Goldstein, 2010). The military, thru basic training or boot camp, does a fantastic job in breaking the individual down and breaking the normal behaviors of the individual and then proceeds in rebuilding the individual into a gear in the overall engine that must conform to
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the norms of the military, for if one gear does not work properly, the whole engine can seize.
As a Leader in the Army, when I receive a new Soldier and that Soldier exhibits habits and traits that do not coincide with that of the overall team it makes for a very difficult environment, in which, I as the Leader then must change my tactics to fix in order to make my engine run correctly.
One example of experience-dependent plasticity is how we, in the military introduce the Soldier to a variety of possible experiences that may or may not occur in combat. For instance, in 2010, 184 Soldiers lost their lives to privately owned vehicle accidents; 2011, 176 lost their lives, and the numbers remained the same in 2012 (Wolff, 2012). As a result of this and many other programs, the Army designed training to revolve around keeping the Soldier alive at home. There were new rollover drills, virtual “driving-while-impaired” training programs, etc. All of this has resulted in a lower number of overall Soldier deaths due to privately owned vehicle
accidents.
Some Soldiers may have never and will never have to deal with an actual combat rollover, however, due to this type of training, the Soldier changes his or her experience-dependent plasticity directly as a result from the experience received in constant training. Their likely-hood of survival is greatly increased because of it. As Leaders, we are in constant training mode. If not for the ability to change the experience-dependent plasticity of the young Soldiers mind, we would lose so much more lives because they would not know, be familiar with or have a basic understanding of what to do in a unfamiliar situation and they would recoil into their perception of what they believe they would do, instead of doing what is best for the overall team. Brain plasticity refers to the brain’s ability to change structure and function (Kolb, 1998). This is by definition what we do as Leaders in order to saves lives.
References
Goldstein, E. (2010). Sensation and perception, 8th edition. California: Cengage.
Kolb, B., Wishaw, I. (1998). Brain plasticity and behavior. Annual Review of Psychology. Proquest Research Library. Retrieved on 13 March 2014 from http://search.proquest.com.ezproxy1.apus.edu/docview/205845453?accountid=8289
Wolff, W. Brig. General, US Army. (2012). Aviation, vehicle fatalities decrease in 2011. Website. Retrieved on 13 March 2014 from http://www.army.mil/article/71466/Aviation__vehicle_fatalities_decrease_in_2011/
the norms of the military, for if one gear does not work properly, the whole engine can seize.
As a Leader in the Army, when I receive a new Soldier and that Soldier exhibits habits and traits that do not coincide with that of the overall team it makes for a very difficult environment, in which, I as the Leader then must change my tactics to fix in order to make my engine run correctly.
One example of experience-dependent plasticity is how we, in the military introduce the Soldier to a variety of possible experiences that may or may not occur in combat. For instance, in 2010, 184 Soldiers lost their lives to privately owned vehicle accidents; 2011, 176 lost their lives, and the numbers remained the same in 2012 (Wolff, 2012). As a result of this and many other programs, the Army designed training to revolve around keeping the Soldier alive at home. There were new rollover drills, virtual “driving-while-impaired” training programs, etc. All of this has resulted in a lower number of overall Soldier deaths due to privately owned vehicle
accidents.
Some Soldiers may have never and will never have to deal with an actual combat rollover, however, due to this type of training, the Soldier changes his or her experience-dependent plasticity directly as a result from the experience received in constant training. Their likely-hood of survival is greatly increased because of it. As Leaders, we are in constant training mode. If not for the ability to change the experience-dependent plasticity of the young Soldiers mind, we would lose so much more lives because they would not know, be familiar with or have a basic understanding of what to do in a unfamiliar situation and they would recoil into their perception of what they believe they would do, instead of doing what is best for the overall team. Brain plasticity refers to the brain’s ability to change structure and function (Kolb, 1998). This is by definition what we do as Leaders in order to saves lives.
References
Goldstein, E. (2010). Sensation and perception, 8th edition. California: Cengage.
Kolb, B., Wishaw, I. (1998). Brain plasticity and behavior. Annual Review of Psychology. Proquest Research Library. Retrieved on 13 March 2014 from http://search.proquest.com.ezproxy1.apus.edu/docview/205845453?accountid=8289
Wolff, W. Brig. General, US Army. (2012). Aviation, vehicle fatalities decrease in 2011. Website. Retrieved on 13 March 2014 from http://www.army.mil/article/71466/Aviation__vehicle_fatalities_decrease_in_2011/