This video on the “Backwards Brain Bicycle” is a great example of brain developmentalism, and how the neural connections that form in our brains from learning a task allow for automatic or habitual actions in our bodies.

Here, some engineers built a “backward” bicycle. Essentially, when you turn the handles to the left, the wheel turns right. When you turn the handles to the right, the wheels turn left. Destin (the man in the video), thinks that riding the backward bicycle will be easy. After all, he’s been riding a bike since he was 6 years old. Cognitively, he understands what the body needs to do in order to find balance and move forward. As you’ll see in the video, it wasn’t that easy. Destin practiced riding the backward bicycle every day. After 8 months, Destin said that something just “clicked” and he was able to ride the bike.

After this experience, he was interested to see how his 6-year-old son would fare. With daily practice, Destin’s son learned to ride the backward bicycle in 2 weeks! This is the perfect example of neuroplasticity in the brain, and how children’s brains have more plasticity than adults. If you recall from the readings earlier in EPSY 408, Cathy Davidson mentions that infants have more neurons than adults. As neurons connect and form pathways as a result of learning and development, the total number of neurons decreases with age (New Learning Online, n.d.). This makes perfect sense why Destin had a harder time learning to ride the backward bicycle than his 6-year-old son.

Once Destin learned to ride the backward bicycle, he wanted to see if he could return to riding a normal bicycle. This time around, it took him about 20 minutes of trial and error before he felt the “click” in his head and was able to ride smoothly again.

References

SmarterEveryDay. (2015, April 24). The Backwards Brain Bicycle – Smarter Every Day 133 [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MFzDaBzBlL0

New Learning Online. (n.d.). Davidson on brain basics. https://newlearningonline.com/new-learning/chapter-6/supporting-material/davidson-on-brain-basics