Building stronger neural pathways

Why revisiting therapy insights during the week can help you recognise familiar patterns and apply what you discussed.

Hold on to what stood out

Therapy often involves recognising a familiar pattern and considering a different way to respond. Learning starts a series of physical changes in the connections between brain cells. In an animal study, researchers found that these changes developed in stages after learning rather than appearing all at once.[1] Writing down what stood out gives the insight a clear form that you can revisit once the session is over.

Connect it with daily life

A therapy insight is more useful when it comes to mind in the situations it relates to. Bringing something back to mind after a gap can strengthen later memory. In a human study, spaced repetitions produced better recall than immediate repetition, and the memories that lasted were linked with more consistent patterns of brain activity.[2] Plastic Brains prompts you to review the notes you’ve made, giving you another opportunity to connect what you discussed in therapy with what is happening in your life.

References

  1. Goto et al. (2021), Stepwise synaptic plasticity events drive the early phase of memory consolidation.
  2. Feng et al. (2019), Spaced learning enhances episodic memory by increasing neural pattern similarity across repetitions.