Archive for July, 2008
A recent article in the journal Neuron provides some insight into what goes on in our brains when we encounter new things. The study it reports looked at what goes on in the brain when we encounter new things. It’s true, for example, that when given a choice, people often choose something new over something they already know about. This kind of behavior seems to be mediated by neural pathways in the frontal lobes and in a deeper part of the brain called the ventral striatum. The study showed that when people made choices based on their preference for novelty, the ventral striatum showed greater activity.
What does this have to do with brain fitness? I’m interested in the study for a couple of reasons:
- First, novelty-seeking or ‘exploratory behavior’ decreases as we get older. This might even be the basis for the old saying “You can’t teach an old dog new tricks.” We know it isn’t that you can’t teach older people new things, but it may be true that older people aren’t as interested in new things.
- Second, the brain chemical dopamine is important in this neural circuit, and we know that the circuits in the brain using this chemical are less active in older people.
- Third, much of the research on improving mental abilities in older people has focused on learning new things as a key characteristic of the kind of activities that improve cognitive abilities.
- Putting these all together, it may be that choosing new things may stimulate dopaminergic activity in the ventral striatum. It is speculation, but maybe choosing novelty improves the activity of this area and the other areas linked to it. Choosing novelty may improve brain fitness.
The bottom line: This study helps us understand what goes on in the brain when we make choices based on how new something is. Its findings suggest a possible way that newness or novelty can improve brain fitness.
Reference: Wittmann BC, Daw ND, Seymour B, Dolan RJ. Striatal activity underlies novelty-based choice in humans. Neuron, 58, 967-983 (June 26th, 2008).
Latest
- Brain Fitness and The Mind of a Monk
- Brain Fitness Tip: Training Without a Computer
I saw an interesting blog post yesterday evening on the site of the Huffington Post about the potential benefits of meditation – or at least about what one woman thinks might be the benefits. (more…)
Although many people are excited about the potential for using computers to train their brains, we shouldn’t forget that other techniques have been used to the train the brain for many centuries. I’m thinking about the large number of techniques for meditation. While free computer software still requires an investment in a computer, meditation only asks you to sit or lie quietly and focus your mind.
A recently-published study shows parts of the brain in long-term meditators are larger than the same parts of the brain in people who don’t meditate. The article by Eileen Luders and her colleagues appeared in a recent issue of the journal Neuroimage (Vol. 45, No. 3, pp. 672-678, April 15, 2009). The study showed that portions of the orbitofrontal cortex and the hippocampus were larger in persons who had been regular meditators for 5 or more years. The study is interesting because the parts of the brain that were larger are often thought to be important in helping people keep themselves emotionally balanced.
A number of strategies are likely to be helpful for meditators. There has been a great deal of interest over the last several years in mindfulness meditation. Researchers have studied how it can be used in reducing anxiety and depression. Mindfulness is based on Buddhist meditation (for a brief article, click here) but you don’t have to be a Buddhist to practice meditation. In fact, one of the most important persons who has promoted mindfulness is Jon Kabat-Zinn, a researcher at the University of Massachusetts. You can see a video presentation by him on YouTube by clicking here.