NEUROPLASTICITY
(1) Brain plasticity refers to the capacity of the nervous system to change its structure and its
function over a lifetime, in reaction to environmental diversity. Although this term is now
commonly used in psychology and neuroscience, it is not easily defined as it is used to refer
to changes at many levels in the nervous system ranging from molecular events, such as
changes in gene expression, to behavior. Neuroplasticity, or neural plasticity, allows neurons
to regenerate both anatomically as well as functionally, and to form new synaptic
connections. In other words, brain plasticity, or neuroplasticity, is the ability for the brain to
recover and restructure itself. This adaptive potential of the nervous system allows the brain
to recover after disorders or injuries and to reduce the effects of altered structures due to
pathologies such as Multiple Sclerosis, Parkinson’s disease, cognitive deterioration,
Alzheimer’s, dyslexia, ADHD, insomnia, etc.
(2) Up until the 1960s, researchers believed that changes in the brain could only take place
during infancy and childhood. By early adulthood, it was believed that the brain's physical
structure was mostly permanent. Psychologist William James suggested that the brain was
perhaps not as unchanging as previously believed way back in 1890. In his book "The
Principles of Psychology" he wrote, "Organic matter, especially nervous tissue, seems
endowed with a very extraordinary degree of plasticity." However, this idea went largely
ignored for many years due to lack of reliable data. In the 1920s, researcher Karl Lashley
provided evidence of changes in the neural pathways of rhesus monkeys. By the 1960s,
researchers began to explore cases in which older adults who had suffered massive strokes
were able to regain functioning, demonstrating that the brain was much more malleable
than previously believed. Modern researchers have also found evidence that the brain is
able to rewire itself after damage.
(3) Recently, different teams of neurologists and cognitive psychologists that study the
processes of synaptic plasticity and neurogenesis have claimed that brain plasticity or
neuroplasticity can be activated and strengthened by applying clinical intervention computer
programs. Cognifit is one of the companies that design such programs. It is a healthcare
company, founded in 1999 by Professor Shlomo Breznitz, and oriented to assess and
improve cognitive health. Their neuroscientific program is led by an international team of
scientists, neurologists, and psychologists that investigate and combine the latest discoveries
about the brain with advanced algorithms, making simple tasks in the form of games. This
professional neuropsychological and cognitive stimulation program is based on scientific
methodology and is able to measure, train, and accurately monitor concrete cognitive
abilities and their relationships with neurological pathologies.
(4) There are also other examples of cognitive training programs through computer games.
For example, On 5 April 2017, Akili Interactive Labs announced the results of a study
demonstrating its cognitive-training computer game, Project: EVO. The game improves the
symptoms of children with cognitive deficits. In the clinical study, 57 children with sensory
processing disorder, a condition that affects how the brain receives and responds to
sensorial information, played Project: EVO for four weeks. After the treatment, the
symptoms in 33 per cent of the patients had improved to the extent that they no longer met
the criteria for the disorder. “These findings are quite exciting given that they both
reproduce critical elements of the study of this technology in older adults and suggest that
this treatment approach can have powerful effects across the lifespan and in distinct
populations with specific cognitive deficits,” said Joaquin Anguera, from the Departments of
Neurology and Psychiatry at UCSF and the lead author of the study. Akili’s Project: EVO is
currently still under evaluation in a large clinical trial with ADHD patients, a study that aims
to get the game FDA approved as a medical treatment.
(5) In neuroscience, another important terminology that is used is synaptic plasticity.
Synaptic plasticity is the ability of synapses in the brain to strengthen or weaken over time,
in response to increases or decreases in their activity. When engaged in new experiences
and learning, the brain establishes a series of neural pathways. These neural pathways, or
circuits, are routes that are made of inter-connecting neurons. These routes are created in
the brain through daily use and practice; much like a mountain path is made by daily use of a
shepherd and his herd. The neurons in a neural pathway communicate with each other
through connections called synapses, and these communication pathways can regenerate
throughout your whole life. Each time that we gain new knowledge through repeated
practice, the synaptic communication between neurons is strengthened. A better connection
between the neurons means that the electric signals travel more efficiently when creating or
using a new pathway. For example, when trying to recognize a new bird, new connections
are made among specific neurons. Neurons in the visual cortex determine its color, the
auditory cortex identifies its song, and other, the name of the bird. In order to know what
bird it is, its attributes, its color, song, and name are repeated many times. Revisiting the
neural circuit and re-establishing neuronal transmission between the implicated neurons at
each new attempt enhances the efficiency of synaptic transmission. In other words,
communication between the relevant neurons is facilitated. As a result, cognition and
learning occurs.
(6) Whereas synaptic plasticity is achieved through enhancing communication at the synaptic
site between existing neurons, neurogenesis refers to the birth and creation of new neurons
in the brain. For a very long time the notion of continued neuronal birth in the aging brain
was considered heretic. As stated above, scientists believed that neurons died and were
never substituted by new ones. Since 1944, but mostly in recent years, the existence of
neurogenesis in aging brains has become scientifically established and we know that it
occurs. Stem cells, a special type of cell located in the dentate gyrus, in the pre-frontal
cortex, divide into two cells: a stem cell and a cell which becomes a new neuron fully
equipped with axon and dendrites. Those new neurons will then migrate to distant areas of
the brain where they are needed, and thus have the potential to allow the brain to replenish
its supply of neurons. The data from both elderly animal and adult human research prove
the existence of this process.
(7) In a recent research, structural MRIs of the brains of humans with extensive navigation
experience, licensed London taxi drivers, were analyzed and compared with those of control
subjects who did not drive taxis. The posterior hippocampi of taxi drivers were significantly
larger relative to those of control subjects. On the other hand, a more anterior hippocampal
region was larger in control subjects than in taxi drivers. Hippocampal volume correlated
with the amount of time spent as a taxi driver (positively in the posterior and negatively in
the anterior hippocampus). These data are in accordance with the idea that the posterior
hippocampus stores a spatial representation of the environment and can expand regionally
to accommodate elaboration of this representation in people with a high dependence on
navigational skills. This research study reveals that it seems there is a capacity for change in
the structure of the healthy adult human brain in response to environmental demands.
Increased hippocampal volume relative to brain and body size has also been reported in
small mammals and birds which engage in behavior requiring spatial memory, such as food
storing. In some species, it has been reported that hippocampal volumes enlarge specifically
during seasons when demand for spatial ability is greatest.
(8) The neurobiological decline that accompanies aging is well documented in research
literature and explains why older adults perform worse than young adults on tests of
neurocognitive performance. Surprisingly, it has been found that not all older adults exhibit
lower performance. In fact, some do as well as their younger counterparts. This unexpected
behavioral advantage for a sub-group of aging individuals has been scientifically investigated
and it was found that, when processing new information, higher performing older adults use
the same brain regions as do the younger adults, but, also use additional brain regions that
young and low performing older adults do not activate. Researchers have pondered on this
process of over-using brain regions in high performing older adults and have generally
reached the conclusion that using additional cognitive resources reflects a compensatory
strategy. In the presence of age-related deficits and decreased synaptic plasticity, the adult
brain once again manifests its multi-source plasticity by re-organizing its neurocognitive
networks. Studies have shown that the brain reaches this functional solution through the
activation of alternative neural pathways, which most often activate regions in both
hemispheres. However, only one hemisphere is activated in the younger adults.
(9) So far, we have seen that plasticity is the property of the brain which allows it to alter its
biological, chemical and physical properties. As the brain changes, function and behavior are
modified in a parallel course. In recent years we have learnt that cerebral alterations at the
genetic or synaptic levels are brought about by a wide variety of environmental and
experimental factors. Therefore, new learning is at the heart of plasticity and an altered
brain is perhaps the most noticeable manifestation that new learning has occurred.
(10) New learning takes place in many forms and at any time during our life time, and there
are many reasons for it. For example, children acquire new knowledge in vast quantities and
their brain changes significantly at these times of intensive new learning. New learning may
also be required in the presence of neurological damage caused, for example through lesions
or stroke, when the functions supported by a damaged brain area are impaired, and must be
learnt anew. New learning also takes place as it can be intrinsic to the individual and guided
by the thirst for knowledge.
(11) The multiplicity of circumstances for the occasion of new learning raises the question of
whether the brain will change whenever it is learning something. So far, research suggests
that this is not the case. It appears that the brain will acquire new knowledge, and thereby
actualize its potential for plasticity, if the new learning is behaviorally appropriate. In order
for learning to physiologically mark the brain, that learning must lead to changes in behavior.
In other words, new learning must be behaviorally relevant and necessary. For example, new
learning which ensures survival will be integrated by the organism and adopted as behavior.
Then, as a result, the brain will have changed.
(12) If learning must result in changes in behavior in order to physiologically change the
brain, then perhaps the extent to which a learning experience is rewarding becomes highly
important. For example, new learning in the form of interactive play is especially conducive
of brain plasticity and has been found to increase PFC activity. Also, in this context of
incentive provision, we will note the old tradition of providing children with support and
reward while they engage in learning.
(13) Another important question that the brain plasticity research has been working on is
when in the life span is the brain most likely to change when exposed to stimulation in the
environment? It seems that neuroplasticity patterns are different at different ages and much
is still unknown regarding the interaction between the type of plasticity-inducing activity and
the age of the subject. Nevertheless, we know that intellectual and mental activity induce
brain plasticity when applied to healthy older adults or to older adults with a
neurodegenerative disorder. More importantly, it appears that the brain is responsive to
both positive and negative change even before the organism's birth. Animal studies show
that when pregnant mothers are placed in enriched and stimulating environments, the
offspring's synapse number increase in specific brain regions. Conversely, when light stress is
applied to the pregnant mothers, her offspring later displayed a reduced PFC number of
neurons. In addition, it appears that the PFC is more responsive to environmental influences
than the rest of the brain.
(14) These findings have important implications for the "nature" vs. "nurture" debate, as it
would appear that "nurture" may induce changes in neuronal gene expression. Then, how
does brain plasticity evolve and what is the effect of the length of time environmental
stimulation is applied? This is a very important question for therapeutic issues, and genetic
animal research offers very important answers that some genes are affected at even the
shortest stimulation span, additional genes continue to be affected with longer stimulation
span, while yet others undergo no change at all or reverse the changing trend.
(15) Although the mainstream use of the word plasticity carries a positive connotation,
plasticity refers to all the ways the brain changes, and some of the changes may co-occur
with impaired function and behavior. In this respect, cognitive training seems ideal for
inducing cerebral plasticity. It provides the systematic practice necessary for establishing
new neural circuits and for strengthening the synaptic connections among the neurons in
the circuit. However, as it has been mentioned, in the absence of tangible behavioral
benefits, the brain will not learn effectively. Thus, the importance of integrating highly
personalized and relevant goals with the training cannot be ignored.
READING COMPREHENSION QUESTIONS
PART 1: SKIMMING
• Skim the text and match the following headings with the relevant paragraphs.
• Write only one paragraph number in the space provided.
• An example has been done for you.
Example: Definition of Neuroplasticity ______1______
A. Relationship Between synaptic activity and learning _______________
B. Functional Compensatory Plasticity in the Adult Brain _______________
C. History and Research on Brain Plasticity _______________
D. Factors that lead to new learning ______________
E. Understanding the conditions to induce plasticity ______________
F. Not all learning leads to physiological changes in the brain ______________
G. The process of adult neurogenesis ______________
H. Relationship between learning experience and reinforcement ______________
PART 2: DETAILED READING
• Read the text and answer the questions below.
• The questions are in the same order as the information appears in the text.
1. What features of the nervous system help the brain to heal after injuries or disorders?
__________________________________________________________________________________.
2. When was the first research that proved changes in the brain?
___________________________________________________________________________.
3. Cognifit’s cognitive stimulation program CAN ____________________________________.
4. A cognitive-training computer game, Project: EVO has succeeded in __________________
___________________________________________________________________________.
5. Read paragraph 5, and complete the gaps below.
The brain forms neural circuits as a result of ____________. The neurons in the neural
circuits interact with each other through _________________________________________.
When we learn something new, through daily practice, _____________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
Each attempt of the neurons to re-establish neuronal transmission ___________________
_____________, and this results in _____________________________________________.
6. How does an adult brain create new neurons?
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________.
7. How does the data from research on London taxi drivers and a control group prove that
environmental stimulus may result in changes in the brain?
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________.
8. What does the process of “overusing brain regions” in high performing adults involve?
___________________________________________________________________________.
9. In paragraph 9, researchers reached the conclusion that plasticity of the brain leads to
_________________________. Also, they have found out that _________________
________________________________________ cause cerebral change at the genetic and
synaptic levels. Thus, ___________ likely shows that new learning has occurred.
10. According to the text, does new learning always result in a change in the brain? Why? /
Why not?
___________________________________________________________________________.
11. Write TWO examples that may make the learning experience rewarding?
a. _____________________________________________________________________.
b. _____________________________________________________________________.
12. According to paragraph 13, animal studies may show that the brain _________________
___________________________________________________________________________.
13. Read paragraph 15, underline the correct answer in parenthesis, and then complete the
gaps below.
It seems that cognitive training affects cerebral plasticity (positively / negatively) because
___________________________________________________________________________.
However, it seems that __________________________________________ is necessary for
the brain to learn efficiently.
