The discovery of stem cells in the adult brain has generated a great deal of excitement in the neurosciences. Thousands of new cells are produced each day in a healthy hippocampus, a key brain area for learning and memory. However, soon after the cells are born, many of them die unless they are exposed to a learning experience. Thus, new neurons in the adult are rescued from death by learning. With this award, a number of important questions about the relationship between learning and neurogenesis will be answered: What do new neurons do once they are rescued from death? Are they used for memory or for acquiring new information? Are new cells retained with each new learning experience and if so, do they then contribute to learning in the future? Also, do the absolute numbers that are born relate to the numbers kept alive by learning? And finally, what physiological mechanisms and brain rhythms keep them alive? To answer these questions, behavioral, electrophysiological, molecular and biochemical techniques will be used. These studies are important because they will identify the critical features of learning that keep new neurons alive and in turn how those new neurons then contribute to optimal learning in the future. The discovery of neurogenesis has transformed the way we think about the adult brain and generated much interest in the public, especially educators of children and young adults. These findings will be disseminated to the public with writings in lay magazines (i.e. Shors, Scientific American, 2009) and public presentations (i.e. Quark Park, a public art installation about science). The project will train postdoctoral, graduate and undergraduate students in this new field of research which intersects biology, psychology, physiology, as well as biomedical and stem cell engineering.

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The idea that the adult brain changes with experience was once a radical idea, but it is now well accepted that certain areas—say, the motor cortex, when learning a new physical skill—can grow new neurons or create stronger connections.

Now scientists report that the brain is even more mutable than suspected. Thanks to an unconventional research technique, neuroscientists have found the first physical proof that new experiences and information have wide-ranging effects throughout both hemispheres of the brain, rather than just creating connections in one discrete area.

“We have learned that what we call neuronal plasticity isn’t exclusive to individual synapses or even the neurons where they contact but rather occurs throughout the functional network in which synapses and neurons are embedded,” Canals says. “Those networks are absent in brain slices, so they couldn’t be studied before.”

By showing how activity in the hippocampus causes widespread changes in brain structure, Canals says the findings could explain why new memories are at first dependent on the hippocampus but can eventually be recalled without triggering that part of the brain at all.

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They say you can’t teach an old dog new tricks, but scientific findings seem to indicate otherwise. Research shows that our brains literally rewire in response to new stimulation. And when it comes to computer use, Internet activity may stimulate and possibly improve brain function, according to scientists at UCLA.

“Technology may be changing our minds and changing the way we think,” said Dr. Gary Small, a neuroscientist speaking last month at the UCLA Technology & Aging Conference at the Skirball Cultural Center.

Small, director of the UCLA Center on Aging, described results of research he and colleagues performed with volunteers between the ages of 55 and 76. Half of the participants were familiar with how to search the Internet, and the other half were new to it. The participants engaged in Internet searching while simultaneously undergoing functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).

The MRI images clearly showed activity in the areas of the brain that control decision-making and complex reasoning — but only in the Web-savvy group. The inexperienced group showed no such activity.

However, after just five one-hour sessions of practice, the Web newbies showed activation in the same areas of the brain as the savvy group.

“Five hours on the Internet and the naive subjects had already rewired their brains,” said Small, writing about the findings in “iBrain: Surviving the Technological Alteration of the Modern Mind” (HarperCollins). “Recent studies demonstrate that older brains do remain malleable and plastic throughout life. Even areas of the brain that were reserved for specialized tasks can be recruited and retrained.”

In other words, “use it or lose it” applies to the brain. Indeed, Small notes, “Several studies have shown that exercising the brain with mental aerobics not only can improve cognitive performance scores but also may delay brain degeneration.”

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In his speech to America’s schoolchildren last month, President Obama had a clear directive about video games: Put them away. It wasn’t the first time he had sounded this particular alarm, warning of the dangers of days spent at gaming consoles. But the latest science shows that there’s a lot more to video games than their dark reputations suggest.

“There’s still a tendency to think of video games as a big wad of time-wasting content,’’ said Cheryl Olson, co-director of the Center for Mental Health and Media at Massachusetts General Hospital. “You would never hear a parent say we don’t allow books in our home, but you’ll still hear parents say we don’t allow video games in our home.

“Games are a medium. They’re not inherently good or bad.’’

After years of focusing on the bad – and there are still legitimate concerns, for instance, about the psychological effects of certain violent games – scientists are increasingly examining the potential benefits of video games. Their studies are revealing that a wide variety of games can boost mental function, improving everything from vision to memory. Still unclear is whether these gains are long-lasting and can be applied to non-game tasks. But video games, it seems, might actually be good for the brain.

The very structure of video games makes them ideal tools for brain training.

“Video games are hard,’’ said Eric Klopfer, the director of MIT’s Education Arcade, which studies and develops educational video games. “People don’t like to play easy games, and games have figured out a way to encourage players to persist at solving challenging problems.’’

The games aren’t just hard – they’re adaptively hard. They tend to challenge people right at the edge of their abilities; as players get better and score more points, they move up to more demanding levels of play. This adaptive challenge is “stunningly powerful’’ for learning, said John Gabrieli, a neuroscientist at MIT.

Most games involve a huge number of mental tasks, and playing can boost any one of them. Fast-paced, action-packed video games have been shown, in separate studies, to boost visual acuity, spatial perception, and the ability to pick out objects in a scene. Complex, strategy-based games can improve other cognitive skills, including working memory and reasoning.

These findings fit with scientists’ increasing understanding of how malleable the human brain truly is. Researchers now know that learning and practicing a challenging task can actually change the brain.

Richard Haier,a pediatric neurologist and professor emeritus at the School of Medicine at the University of California at Irvine, has shown in a pair of studies that the classic game Tetris, in which players have to rotate and direct rapidly falling blocks, alters the brain. In a paper published last month, Haier and his colleagues showed that after three months of Tetris practice, teenage girls not only played the game better, their brains became more efficient.

A type of scan that illuminates brain activity showed that at the end of the three months, the girls’ brains were working less hard to complete the game’s challenges. What’s more, parts of the cortex, the outer layer of their brains responsible for high-level functions, actually got thicker. Several of these regions are associated with visual spatial abilities, planning, and integration of sensory data.

“Does this mean that Tetris is good for your brain?’’ Haier said. “That is the big question. We don’t know that just because you become better at playing Tetris after practice and your brain changes . . . whether those changes generalize to anything else.’’

Generalizability to non-game situations is the big question surrounding other emerging games, particularly software that is being marketed explicitly as a way to keep neurons spry as we age. The jury is still out on whether practicing with these games helps people outside of the context of the game. In one promising 2008 study, however, senior citizens who started playing Rise of Nations, a strategic video game devoted to acquiring territory and nation building, improved on a wide range of cognitive abilities, performing better on subsequent tests of memory, reasoning, and multitasking. The tests were administered after eight weeks of training on the game. No follow-up testing was done to assess whether the gains would last.

Now that researchers know these off-the-shelf games can have wide-ranging benefits, they’re trying to home in on the games’ most important aspects, potentially allowing designers to create new games that specifically boost brain power.

“Until now, people have been asking can you learn anything from games?’’ MIT’s Klopfer said. “That’s a less interesting question than what aspects of games are important for fostering learning.’’

Klopfer is currently conducting research to determine how important narrative is in an educational physics game: Do students learn more with a more narrative game? And Anne McLaughlin, a psychologist who co-directs the Gains Through Gaming lab at North Carolina State University, is assessing whether games that are novel, include social interaction, and require intense focus are better at boosting cognitive skills. McLaughlin and her colleagues will use the findings to design games geared toward improving mental function among the elderly.

Other researchers are hoping to use video games to encourage prosocial behaviors – actions designed to help others. (“Prosocial’’ behaviors are, in some ways, the opposite of “antisocial’’ ones.) In June, an international team of researchers, including several from Iowa State University, reported that middle school students in Japan who played games in which characters helped or showed affection for others, later engaged in more of these behaviors themselves. Researchers also found that US college students randomly assigned to play a prosocial game were subsequently kinder to a fellow research subject than students who played violent or neutral games.

Unlike, say, movies or books, video games don’t just have content, they also have rules. A game is set up to reward certain actions and to punish others. This means they have immense potential to teach children ethics and values, said Scott Seider, an assistant professor of education at Boston University. (Of course, this is a double-edged sword. Games could reward negative, antisocial behavior just as easily as positive, prosocial behavior.)

Some off-the-shelf games already contain strong prosocial themes; consider The Sims, for instance, or the classic Oregon Trail, which make players responsible for the well-being of other characters and feature characters who take care of one another. But Seider also hopes game developers consider the prosocial possibilities in developing new games. The challenge for the architects of future games will be figuring out how to wrap virtuous characteristics into an engaging package.

“Ultimately, the video game needs to be an entertaining experience,’’ Seider said. “The game has to be fun.’’

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Our brains are continually in the process of growing, shrinking, and killing neurons. By the way, that three-pound mass of tissue and fluid in our skulls consists of some 100 billion of them. And they’re party to an estimated 40 quadrillion, that’s 15 zeros, potential synaptic connections. Wow!

The activity of the brain is a miraculous never-ending balancing act, and problems arise when the scale is tipped toward neural shrinkage or death. The result can be anxiety and mood issues, as well as other mind variances. For example, brain imaging has revealed key-area brain shrinkage of as much as 10%-15% in chronic depression sufferers.

The term used for neural shrinkage is atrophy, and the chemicals that cause atrophy are known as atrophics. So, for example, the chemicals generated and released as a result of stress, most notably cortisol, are atrophics. Chemicals that foster neural growth, such as the antidepressants so often used in the treatment of panic and depression, are known as trophics. In short, then, neural growth, shrinkage, and death are to a large degree caused by the action of atrophic and trophic agents.

Neurogenesis is the process by which neurons are created. And though it makes perfect sense that it’s most active during prenatal development, the process continues on a much smaller scale into adulthood, even our senior years.

It’s so important to understand the dynamics of neurogenesis actually have the ability to reverse, if you will, all sorts of mental and emotional distress. That’s correct, in the face of targeted and appropriate intervention our brains can grow fresh neurons that serve to facilitate, enhance, and support newly learned coping skills, allowing us to feel one heck of a lot better. But, think about it, if one’s mental or emotional state improves, didn’t something brain-biological have to have happened?

For instance, the dentate gyrus of the hippocampus is an area of the brain in which neurogenesis is particularly active. See, the hippocampus, a component of the limbic system, is all about memory, learning, and emotion; all of which play major roles in anxiety and mood. Indeed, it’s been suggested that decreased hippocampal neurogenesis may be linked to increases in depression, which can be reversed by, say, the use of antidepressants – trophics.

So how ‘bout a short list of neurogenesis friendly factors. First of all, we have to include any medication with anti-panic, antidepressant, mood-stabilizing, and atypical antipsychotic characteristics. Incidentally, I’m not recommending these meds, just stating biochemical fact. And neurogenesis is also encouraged by mentally, emotionally, and physically healthy environments and lifestyle habits. Included are exercise, learning and memory work, spirituality, and psychotherapy. By the way, research has shown that one of the reasons all of these factors support neural growth and survival is because they increase levels of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF). Note the word, “neuroTROPHIC.”

On the other side of the fence, neurogenesis has its enemies. First in line is any sort of over-the-top or chronic stress. And that’s because it results in the secretion of the glucocorticoids, a family of steroids produced in the adrenal glands necessary for the regulation of energy metabolism and immune and inflammatory responses. The “stress hormone,” cortisol, is responsible for the vast majority of glucocorticoid activity. And though we need cortisol to increase our blood sugar and blood pressure levels in response to stress, too much of it for a long period of time can be a major problem.

One other neurogenesis adversary worth mentioning is excesses of glutamate, the brain’s most abundant excitatory, action-generating, neurotransmitter. It’s especially a factor during trauma and hypoglycemic events.

Absolutely, neurogenesis is a marvelous biochemical phenomenon that can really work to our advantage. And choice directs the outcome.

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Myfitbrain games

Various studies involving brain scans found that every thought that passes through your mind affects your brain just like an action would. For example, when you practice a certain skill over a period of time, your brain will learn and thus you will master the skill. But a scientific study showed that mental practice alone can yield the same result. This sort of visualizations, thus stimulates the brain. Stimulation encourages neurogenesis. Scientists have always observed how people who think positively tend to live a healthier life – now they know why.

You don’t use, you lose. This is the first principle that governs the way your brain works. I mentioned previously how practice makes perfect. This is because as you practice, your brain grow new brain cells, called neurons, and creates synapses between those neurons.  Synapses allow the brain to work more efficiently by creating cause-and-effect relationships between neurons. Neurons that fire together, wire together through these synapses so that they’ll always fire together.

But these synapses break down if the neurons no longer fire together. Thus if you spend most of your time sitting down, or if you live an extremely sedentary life, it is inevitable for you to lose your ability to balance yourself on your legs as the synapses in you motor cortex breaks down.  This can be seen in people who were in a serious accident and had their legs in a cast for months on end. Though physiologically we should not have any problem walking, they often couldn’t because they need to relearn it.  Thus frequent exercise, something as simple as a slow walk, could prevent you from losing your independence later in old age. The same applies to your memory and your learning ability. If you don’t use it, you’ll lose it.

Neurogenesis require energy to be carried out. Most of the energy that you possess, you acquire from your diet. Thus by consuming a healthy diet is crucial to a health brain. Stimulation alone will not be sufficient if your brain do not have the building block for neurogenesis.

Generally speaking, any food beneficial for your body will be beneficial for your brain. The first change you should make to your diet is to consume more leafy green vegetables. This is because they contain large amount of anti-oxidants, which combat the process of oxidation. As you might have known, oxidation kills cells – including brain cells.

But there’s one particular vitamin that I want to single out here in this article. Vitamin B12, is crucial for normal cognitive function but unfortunately, it cannot be found in any plant source. Beef and eggs are excellent sources of B12 but if you’re a vegan, be sure to supplement your diet with this vitamin.  Extreme cases of B12 deficiency can cause psychosis and mania.

You can get most brain stimulation from your daily life. But if you want to reverse a particular condition – say memory loss or even Alzheimer’s – or if you want to improve a particular function of your brain, I would recommend that you perform specially designed brain exercises.   There are various brain exercises, ranging from those that stimulate auditory processing to those that stimulates visual processing. Because these exercises are specially designed, they are generally more effective at correcting a specific problem than general techniques that you can do yourself.

Brain exercises that targets the auditory processing, for example, increases your ability to make out sounds and thus allows you to remember verbal stimulus better (things that you hear). Those that targets visual processing, on the other hand, allows you react faster and remember visual stimulus better (such as the written word and facial recognition).

Thus it is a mistake to assume that brain exercises benefits only the older generation. Fact is, everyone could use a little brain exercises to improve mental functions.

Clinton didn’t inhale, Obama did—and maybe Reagan should have. New research suggests that THC, the chemical that gives marijuana its mind-bending properties, kills developing neurons, yet oddly, the same chemical saves neurons in adults with Alzheimer’s disease.

“Marijuana is not the ‘soft drug’ people like to think it is,” says neuro­pharmacologist Veronica Campbell of Trinity College in Dublin, whose latest study uncovered the harmful effects of THC on young neurons. When Campbell and her co-workers treated brain cells from newborn or adolescent rats with THC, the neurons died, but THC did not have such deadly effects on neurons taken from adult rats. In fact, work from other labs shows that THC benefits adult neurons. “We don’t know why,” Campbell says. Several possi­bilities are being investigated for this “Jekyll and Hyde” effect.

Marijuana, like tobacco and opium, has powerful effects on the brain because certain compounds in the plant happen to have a chemical resemblance to naturally occurring substances in the body. Called endocannabinoids, these natural chemicals regulate important brain functions by controlling synapses in neural circuits that process thought and perception. According to several recent studies, these chemicals have many other functions in the brain and immune system, too—including regulating development and aiding survival of young neurons, as well as controlling the wiring of neurons into circuits for learning and memory. Smoking marijuana during the period of life when the brain is still developing obscures these critical chemical signals, Campbell suspects.

The slaughter of young neurons by THC could explain the developmental cognitive impairment seen in children born to women who smoked marijuana during pregnancy. In addition, some research on adolescent marijuana abusers shows brain damage in neural circuits that are still developing at that age.

In older brains, however, THC seems to have a protective effect. Campbell’s findings indicate that the biochemistry of neurons changes as the cells mature. The role of endocannabi­noids shifts to regulate different functions—most important, assisting in the survival of aged neurons. In patients with Alzheimer’s disease, THC protects neurons from death in several ways. THC boosts depleted levels of the neurotransmitter acetylcholine, which, when diminished, contributes to the weakened mental function in Alzheimer’s patients. THC also suppresses the toxic effects of the so-called a-beta protein that may kill neurons in Alzheimer’s disease. It stimulates secretion of neuron growth by promoting substances such as brain-derived neurotrophic factor, and it dampens release of the excitatory neurotransmitter glutamate, which kills neurons by overstimulation. THC and other cannabinoids also have powerful anti-inflammatory and antioxidant actions that protect neurons from immune system attack.

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