Practices like physical exercise, certain
forms of psychological counseling and meditation can all change brains for the
better, and these changes can be measured with the tools of modern
neuroscience, according to a review article now online at Nature Neuroscience.
The
study reflects a major transition in the focus of neuroscience from disease to
well being, says first author Richard Davidson, professor of psychology at
University of Wisconsin-Madison.
The
brain is constantly changing in response to environmental
factors, he says, and the article "reflects one of the first efforts
to apply this conceptual framework to techniques to enhance qualities that we
have not thought of as skills, like well-being. Modern neuroscience
research leads to the inevitable conclusion that we can actually
enhance well-being by training that induces neuroplastic changes in the
brain."
"Neuroplastic"
changes affect the number, function and interconnections of cells in the brain,
usually due to external factors.
Although
the positive practices reviewed in the article were not designed using the
tools and theories of modern neuroscience, "these are practices which
cultivate new connections in the brain and enhance the function of neural
networks that support aspects of pro-social behavior, including empathy,
altruism, kindness," says Davidson, who directs the Center for
Investigating Healthy Minds at UW-Madison.
The
review, co-written with Bruce McEwen of Rockefeller University, begins by
considering how social stressors can harm the brain. The massive neglect of
children in orphanages in Romania did not just have psychological impacts; it
created measurable changes in their brains, Davidson says. "Such studies
provide an important foundation for understanding the opposite effects of
interventions designed to promote wellbeing."
Davidson
says his work has been shaped by his association with the Dalai Lama, who asked
him in the 1990s, "Why can't we use the same rigorous tools of
neuroscience to investigate kindness, compassion and wellbeing?"
Davidson,
who has explored the neurological benefits of meditation, says,
"meditation is one of many different techniques, and not necessarily the
best for all people. Cognitive therapy, developed in modern psychology, is one
of most empirically validated treatments for depression and counteracting the
effects of stress."
Overall,
Davidson says, the goal is "to use what we know about the brain to
fine-tune interventions that will improve well-being, kindness, altruism. Perhaps we can
develop more targeted, focused interventions that take advantage of the
mechanisms of neuroplasticity to induce specific changes in specific brain
circuits."
Brains
change all the time, Davidson emphasizes. "You cannot learn or retain
information without a change in the brain. We all know implicitly that in order
to develop expertise in any complex domain, to become an accomplished musician
or athlete, requires practice, and that causes new connections to form in the
brain. In extreme cases, specific parts of the brain enlarge or contract in
response to our experience."
Scientific
documentation for the benefits of brain training may have broader social
impacts, says Davidson. "If you go back to the 1950s, the majority of
middle-class citizens in Western countries did not regularly engage in physical
exercise. It was because of scientific research that established the importance
of physical exercise in promoting health and well-being that more people now
engage in regular physical exercise.
I think mental exercise will be regarded in a similar way 20 years from now.
"Rather
than think of the brain as a static organ, or one that just degenerates with
age, it's better understood as an organ that is constantly reshaping itself, is
being continuously influenced, wittingly or not, by the forces around us,"
says Davidson, author of the new book "The Emotional Life of Your
Brain."
"We
can take responsibility for our own brains. They are not pawns to external
influences; we can be more pro-active in shaping the positive influences on
the brain."
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