Learn complex tasks, such asjuggling games, produce cimportant changes in brain structure, according to new research in the UK.
According to scientists from the University of Oxford in the latest issue of the journalNature Neurosciencejuggling produces aincrease of up to 5% in brain white matter, that is, of the part of the brain that contains the fibers that transmit electrical impulses from aneuronto another.
Previous studies have shown that learning and practicing new skills that use the visual motor part of the brain can lead to changes in gray matter, where processing takes place. But until now it was not known if these practices could also have an impact on white matter.
In the new work, the scientists used a method calleddiffusion magnetic resonance imaging (RMD), which can measure the movement of water molecules in brain tissue, to see if juggling could change the white matter of the brain in 24 healthy subjects. Half of the participants were trained for six weeks, practicing 30 minutes a day, and underwent brain scans before and after the experiment. The rest continued their normal lives. After training, all 12 jugglers were able to perform at least two continuous cycles of the classic three-ball cascade. And, what is really interesting, in his brain a 5% increase was found in the white matter of a posterior section of the brain that contains nerves that react when we grasp objects that are within our peripheral vision.
“The structure of the brain can change. We show that it is possible for the brain to condition its own system of neural connections to operate more efficiently,” concludes Dr. Heidi Johansen-Berg, who led the study from the University’s Department of Clinical Neurology. from Oxford.
