become a physical reality. We can change it to be ahead of any actual
experience in our external world.
Here’s an example. In Evolve Your Brain, I discussed how research
subjects who mentally rehearsed one-handed piano exercises for two hours
a day for five days (never actually touching any piano keys) demonstrated
almost the same brain changes as people who physically performed the
identical finger movements on a piano keyboard for the same length of
time.^2 Functional brain scans showed that all the participants activated and
expanded clusters of neurons in the same specific area of the brain. In
essence, the group who mentally rehearsed practicing scales and chords
grew nearly the same number of brain circuits as the group who physically
engaged in the activity.
This study demonstrates two important points. Not only can we change
our brains just by thinking differently, but when we are truly focused and
single-minded, the brain does not know the difference between the internal
world of the mind and what we experience in the external environment. Our
thoughts can become our experience.
This notion is critical to your success or failure in your endeavor to
replace old habits (prune old neural connections) with new ones (sprout
new neural networks). So let’s look more closely at how the same learning
sequence took place in those people who mentally practiced but never
physically played any notes.
Whether we physically or mentally acquire a skill, there are four
elements that we all use to change our brains: learning knowledge,
receiving hands-on instruction, paying attention, and repetition.
Learning is making synaptic connections; instruction gets the body
involved in order to have a new experience, which further enriches the
brain. When we also pay attention and repeat our new skill over and over
again, our brains will change.
The group who physically played the scales and chords grew new brain
circuits because they followed this formula.
The participants who mentally rehearsed also followed this formula,
except that they never got their bodies physically involved. In their minds
they were easily able to conceive of themselves playing the piano.