I can honestly say that I have very little pruning experience myself, less a few trees in the back yard. When I see a perfectly trimmed tree, bush, or shrub I often think to myself; that must have been a lot of work to get that plant to look just right. Now imagine how complex it would be to prune the structures in the human brain.
The process of trimming the hedges of the brain is called synaptic pruning, and it takes place in humans mostly between early childhood and the onset of puberty. Pruning is basically the elimination of synapses in the brain during development.
This process is generally associated with learning. It may seem counterintuitive to increase understanding by decreasing the number of connections between neurons but it is believed that this helps the brain to more quickly access information by stream lining the processes of the brain by eliminating synapses that are rarely used and strengthening those that are used frequently. This helps to prevent over stimulation of certain parts of the brain. Imagine how easy it would be to get from where you are to Dallas if there were only two or three routes compared to the seemingly limitless number of routes that are actually available.
What is really interesting is that in individuals suffering from Autism Spectrum Disorders there is significantly less synaptic pruning, this means that in some parts of the brain there are more and perhaps too many synapses. This may lead to some common symptoms of ASD like sensitivity to noise and social situations. It could also play a role in the higher prevalence of epileptic seizures in folks with ASD as there is more electrical signaling going on the brain.
It is always important to remember just how complex the brain is. No simple phenomenon can even come close to giving anything like a meaningful description of an issue like this. It is interesting to look at these little pieces of evidence and understand them as we try to better understand ASD and try to better help people who suffer from it.
It is clear that a hedge trimmer is probably not the most appropriate tool when approaching issues of the brain.
Synaptic Pruning, Not The work of Hedge Trimmers
