Insulation around axons
Myelin forms an insulating sheath around many nerve fibers and affects how electrical signals travel. It is a biological structure rather than a metaphor for skill.
Idea · A CLOSER LOOK
Myelination
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Myelin forms insulating sheaths around axons and influences how nerve signals travel. Gaps between these sheaths are called nodes of Ranvier. In the central nervous system, oligodendrocytes produce myelin.
McKenzie and colleagues found that forming new oligodendrocytes was necessary for mice to learn a particular complex motor task. A human motor-training study by Lakhani and colleagues reported changes in an MRI measure associated with myelin.
These findings are different kinds of evidence. They do not establish a simple formula in which every repetition adds myelin or myelin alone explains expertise. Learning also involves other forms of neural plasticity.
A CLOSER LOOK
The story behind it.
Myelin, axons, and one part of the biology of learning.
Plasticity includes more than one mechanism
Research on activity-dependent myelination examines how neural activity and changes in myelin relate. Learning also involves other processes, so practice cannot be reduced to a single mechanism.
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McKenzie et al. · motor learning study (2014) (opens in a new tab)Source for Myelination: McKenzie et al. · motor learning study (2014).
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