Plastyczność neuronalna - stary mózg można nauczyć nowych sztuczek

Daniel Honan, Managing Editor at Big Think : nawet u osób dorosłych zdolności plastyczności mózgu pozostają zdumiewające. Nawet, po udarze - mózg pozostaje zdolny do reorganizacji i przenosi swoją funkcjonalność do nieuszkodzonych obszarów.

Nasz styl życia okazuje się największą barierą optymalnego wykorzystania naszego mózgu. WIĘCEJ

Neurodevelopment: Unlocking the brain

Takao Hensch, neuroscientist at Boston Children's Hospital in Massachusetts:...For the first time, we are beginning to understand the biology that underlies critical periods...

Research on neurobiology of critical periods is raising hopes for treating many neural disorders. Researchers have begun experimenting with drugs to reopen the critical period. The work could even lead to 'plasticity pills' that enhance learning or help to wipe out traumatic memories. More

Axon Game

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Evidence Builds That Meditation Strengthens the Brain

Earlier evidence out of UCLA suggested that meditating for years thickens the brain and strengthens the connections between brain cells. Now a direct correlation was found between the amount of gyrification and the number of meditation years, possibly providing further proof of the brain's neuroplasticity, or ability to adapt to environmental changes.

Eileen Luders, Florian Kurth, Emeran A. Mayer, Arthur W. Toga, Katherine L. Narr, Christian Gaser. The Unique Brain Anatomy of Meditation Practitioners: Alterations in Cortical Gyrification. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 2012

Paralyzed Man Stands and Steps With Epidural Stimulation

Continual direct epidural stimulation of the spinal cord and extensive task-specific locomotor training enabled a young man paralyzed below the waist to stand up from his wheelchair and bear his full weight with assistance provided only for balance.

With continuous epidural stimulation, the patient, Rob Summers, now 25 years old, also took a few assisted steps on a treadmill and has recovered some voluntary leg movement.

This approach, tested extensively in animal models of spinal cord injury, "might reactivate previously silent spared neural circuits or promote plasticity," investigators say in their report published online May 20 in The Lancet.

The 11-member research team was led by neuroscientists Susan Harkema, PhD, of the Kentucky Spinal Cord Research Center, University of Louisville, and V. Reggie Edgerton, PhD, of the David Geffen School of Medicine at University of California, Los Angeles.

"These interventions could be a viable clinical approach for functional recovery after severe paralysis," they conclude.