Additional Points - Yale report: (cont.)
- Brain cells are perfectly designed for making connections
- Each cell sends signals out to other brain cells and receives input from other cells
- The signals, in the form of electrical impulses, travel down the length of the nerve cell
- With the help of special chemicals (such as serotonin), they travel from cell to cell, creating connections
- Repeated activation of networks of neurons strengthens these connections
The evidence also offers additional support for the theory that both animal and human brains--which increase about four-fold in weight from infancy to adulthood--develop by growing new connections, rather than by first producing an excess of connections and then eliminating those that are not used.