Pattern Recognition

Each time the child hears the sound of footsteps coming down the hallway; her parent is coming to the crib.  There is an anticipation based on this perception.  And so it goes.  The baby learns the “if that-then this happens “ pattern that enables them to use behavior to influence their environment.  When the baby makes a sound –the cry -the footsteps come down the hallway and the parent appears.

The patterns of sounds and sights, and the subsequent correlation with their meaning is learned through the repetitions of those patterns in many events. The variables, the patterns which shape learning for each human being, are unique.  Computers use algorithms processing at the highest possible speed to search for meaning of the data.  Babies process and learn naturally.

In his latest book  “How to Create a Mind”,[1] Ray Kurzweil utilizes the most recent neuroscience research, his own research, and inventions in artificial intelligence to put forth a theory of the development of the mind through pattern recognition.  He describes his theory of how the neo-cortex, the thinking part of the brain, works as a hierarchical system of pattern recognizers.  One example is face recognition.  We recognize the faces of people we know and also recognize these faces contain nose, eyes, mouth.  We do not need to relearn the concept of a nose each time we are introduced to a new face.

The Hebbian learning theory[2], which preceded Ray Kurzweils’ research has been stated simply as “ cells that fire together wire together” and is based on research showing how neurons form connections with other neurons that are sequentially related.  These neural pathways are strengthened with repetition, and are the basis of pattern recognition.

Swiss Neuroscientist Henry Markham is head of the “Blue Brain Project” [3]  which is working to simulate the entire human brain.  He proposes a “Lego block” construct of the mind in which memories are assembled like blocks in various ways to create an individual’s specific knowledge and experience.

In The Talent Code, Daniel Coyle describes the development of ability by describing how myelin is the substance that insulates or wraps together the nerve fibers that are fired together.  He describes the discovery of the role of myelin in developing ability as a “revolution”[4] .

He explains how myelin-the phospholipid membrane, or dense fat is the cellular insulation that wraps around neural circuits creating this “neural net” like electrical tape on wiring, which makes pathways in the brain.  The association or linking of patterns causes the circuits to fire together, wire together as described in the Hebbian Learning theory, and with repetition get insulated with myelin to become stronger and more precise.  So, with repetition of a particular pattern and ultimately combinations of physical, mental, emotional patterns, the myelin becomes thicker and allows the impulses to be faster and more precise.  “Impulse speed is skill.”[5]

We can research the physical attributes and processes of the brain and how they enable learning generally.   Using this knowledge about pattern recognition we can then develop educational models for optimum learning, and apply it to developing the ability to play piano.