Name: Neuroplasticity: This Is Your Brain on Change
Start: 2026-02-05T19:00:00-06:00
Location: Monday Night Brewing - Social Club (Monday Night Brewing Social Club)

Neuroplasticity: This Is Your Brain on Change

We're Discourse BHAM, a pop-up public lecture series bringing the most interesting academic talks to Birmingham's bars & breweries. It's like a college class, but there's drinking.
Tickets are $15. Seating is limited.
Neuroplasticity is the brain’s ability to change—physically and functionally—based on experience. And no, that doesn’t stop once you leave childhood.
In this talk, Allison Davis explains how neuroplasticity works, why it matters in everyday life, and how your brain is constantly shaped by what you do, practice, repeat, and ignore. We’ll start with a quick, informal “pre-test” to see what you think you know about the brain, then unpack what science really tells us about learning, habits, and change.
Along the way, expect a hands-on group activity (yes, involving Nerf guns) that turns abstract brain science into something you can see, feel, and laugh about. You’ll walk away with a clearer understanding of how neural connections strengthen, why mistakes are essential for learning, and how small behaviors can add up to real brain change over time.
This is not a biology lecture, and there will be no exams—just an engaging, interactive look at how your brain works, why it’s more adaptable than you think, and how understanding neuroplasticity can make learning, growth, and change feel a little more possible.
Allison Davis, M.S. is a Teaching Instructor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Alabama, where she teaches large sections of Introduction to Psychology, upper-level writing seminars, and specialty classes on Neuroplasticity and Brain Hacks. She earned her master’s degree in clinical psychology with a neuropsychology focus from Virginia Tech and has over two decades of experience working across research, clinical, and educational settings.