Brain plasticity and behavior.
Kolb B,Whishaw I Q
Annual review of psychology
Brain plasticity refers to the brain's ability to change structure and function. Experience is a major stimulant of brain plasticity in animal species as diverse as insects and humans. It is now clear that experience produces multiple, dissociable changes in the brain including increases in dendritic length, increases (or decreases) in spine density, synapse formation, increased glial activity, and altered metabolic activity. These anatomical changes are correlated with behavioral differences between subjects with and without the changes. Experience-dependent changes in neurons are affected by various factors including aging, gonadal hormones, trophic factors, stress, and brain pathology. We discuss the important role that changes in dendritic arborization play in brain plasticity and behavior, and we consider these changes in the context of changing intrinsic circuitry of the cortex in processes such as learning.
10.1146/annurev.psych.49.1.43
The plastic human brain cortex.
Pascual-Leone Alvaro,Amedi Amir,Fregni Felipe,Merabet Lotfi B
Annual review of neuroscience
Plasticity is an intrinsic property of the human brain and represents evolution's invention to enable the nervous system to escape the restrictions of its own genome and thus adapt to environmental pressures, physiologic changes, and experiences. Dynamic shifts in the strength of preexisting connections across distributed neural networks, changes in task-related cortico-cortical and cortico-subcortical coherence and modifications of the mapping between behavior and neural activity take place in response to changes in afferent input or efferent demand. Such rapid, ongoing changes may be followed by the establishment of new connections through dendritic growth and arborization. However, they harbor the danger that the evolving pattern of neural activation may in itself lead to abnormal behavior. Plasticity is the mechanism for development and learning, as much as a cause of pathology. The challenge we face is to learn enough about the mechanisms of plasticity to modulate them to achieve the best behavioral outcome for a given subject.
10.1146/annurev.neuro.27.070203.144216
Synaptic Plasticity Forms and Functions.
Magee Jeffrey C,Grienberger Christine
Annual review of neuroscience
Synaptic plasticity, the activity-dependent change in neuronal connection strength, has long been considered an important component of learning and memory. Computational and engineering work corroborate the power of learning through the directed adjustment of connection weights. Here we review the fundamental elements of four broadly categorized forms of synaptic plasticity and discuss their functional capabilities and limitations. Although standard, correlation-based, Hebbian synaptic plasticity has been the primary focus of neuroscientists for decades, it is inherently limited. Three-factor plasticity rules supplement Hebbian forms with neuromodulation and eligibility traces, while true supervised types go even further by adding objectives and instructive signals. Finally, a recently discovered hippocampal form of synaptic plasticity combines the above elements, while leaving behind the primary Hebbian requirement. We suggest that the effort to determine the neural basis of adaptive behavior could benefit from renewed experimental and theoretical investigation of more powerful directed types of synaptic plasticity.
10.1146/annurev-neuro-090919-022842
Neural plasticity of development and learning.
Galván Adriana
Human brain mapping
Development and learning are powerful agents of change across the lifespan that induce robust structural and functional plasticity in neural systems. An unresolved question in developmental cognitive neuroscience is whether development and learning share the same neural mechanisms associated with experience-related neural plasticity. In this article, I outline the conceptual and practical challenges of this question, review insights gleaned from adult studies, and describe recent strides toward examining this topic across development using neuroimaging methods. I suggest that development and learning are not two completely separate constructs and instead, that they exist on a continuum. While progressive and regressive changes are central to both, the behavioral consequences associated with these changes are closely tied to the existing neural architecture of maturity of the system. Eventually, a deeper, more mechanistic understanding of neural plasticity will shed light on behavioral changes across development and, more broadly, about the underlying neural basis of cognition.
10.1002/hbm.21029
Neuromodulation and developmental contextual influences on neural and cognitive plasticity across the lifespan.
Li Shu-Chen
Neuroscience and biobehavioral reviews
Behavioral, cognitive, and motivational development entails co-constructive interactions between the environmental and social influences from the developmental context, on the one hand, and the individual's neurobiological inheritance, on the other hand. Key brain networks underlying cognition, emotion, and motivation are innervated by major transmitter systems (e.g., the catecholamines and acetylcholine). Thus, the maturation and senescence of neurotransmitter systems have direct implications for lifespan development. In addition to reviewing evidence on life age differences in dopaminergic modulation and cognitive development, this brief review selectively highlights recent findings on how important influences from the developmental context, such as reward-mediated motivational processes, transgenerational stress transmission, psychosocial stress, and cognitive interventions, may, in part, exert their effects on brain and behavioral development through their effects on neuromodulatory mechanisms.
10.1016/j.neubiorev.2013.07.019
Synaptic plasticity: multiple forms, functions, and mechanisms.
Citri Ami,Malenka Robert C
Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology
Experiences, whether they be learning in a classroom, a stressful event, or ingestion of a psychoactive substance, impact the brain by modifying the activity and organization of specific neural circuitry. A major mechanism by which the neural activity generated by an experience modifies brain function is via modifications of synaptic transmission; that is, synaptic plasticity. Here, we review current understanding of the mechanisms of the major forms of synaptic plasticity at excitatory synapses in the mammalian brain. We also provide examples of the possible developmental and behavioral functions of synaptic plasticity and how maladaptive synaptic plasticity may contribute to neuropsychiatric disorders.
10.1038/sj.npp.1301559
Cerebral plasticity: Windows of opportunity in the developing brain.
Ismail Fatima Yousif,Fatemi Ali,Johnston Michael V
European journal of paediatric neurology : EJPN : official journal of the European Paediatric Neurology Society
BACKGROUND:Neuroplasticity refers to the inherently dynamic biological capacity of the central nervous system (CNS) to undergo maturation, change structurally and functionally in response to experience and to adapt following injury. This malleability is achieved by modulating subsets of genetic, molecular and cellular mechanisms that influence the dynamics of synaptic connections and neural circuitry formation culminating in gain or loss of behavior or function. Neuroplasticity in the healthy developing brain exhibits a heterochronus cortex-specific developmental profile and is heightened during "critical and sensitive periods" of pre and postnatal brain development that enable the construction and consolidation of experience-dependent structural and functional brain connections. PURPOSE:In this review, our primary goal is to highlight the essential role of neuroplasticity in brain development, and to draw attention to the complex relationship between different levels of the developing nervous system that are subjected to plasticity in health and disease. Another goal of this review is to explore the relationship between plasticity responses of the developing brain and how they are influenced by critical and sensitive periods of brain development. Finally, we aim to motivate researchers in the pediatric neuromodulation field to build on the current knowledge of normal and abnormal neuroplasticity, especially synaptic plasticity, and their dependence on "critical or sensitive periods" of neural development to inform the design, timing and sequencing of neuromodulatory interventions in order to enhance and optimize their translational applications in childhood disorders of the brain. METHODS:literature review. RESULTS:We discuss in details five patterns of neuroplasticity expressed by the developing brain: 1) developmental plasticity which is further classified into normal and impaired developmental plasticity as seen in syndromic autism spectrum disorders, 2) adaptive (experience-dependent) plasticity following intense motor skill training, 3) reactive plasticity to pre and post natal CNS injury or sensory deprivation, 4) excessive plasticity (loss of homeostatic regulation) as seen in dystonia and refractory epilepsy, 6) and finally, plasticity as the brain's "Achilles tendon" which induces brain vulnerability under certain conditions such as hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy and epileptic encephalopathy syndromes. We then explore the unique feature of "time-sensitive heightened plasticity responses" in the developing brain in the in the context of neuromodulation. CONCLUSION:The different patterns of neuroplasticity and the unique feature of heightened plasticity during critical and sensitive periods are important concepts for researchers and clinicians in the field of pediatric neurology and neurodevelopmental disabilities. These concepts need to be examined systematically in the context of pediatric neuromodulation. We propose that critical and sensitive periods of brain development in health and disease can create "windows of opportunity" for neuromodulatory interventions that are not commonly seen in adult brain and probably augment plasticity responses and improve clinical outcomes.
10.1016/j.ejpn.2016.07.007
Training the brain: practical applications of neural plasticity from the intersection of cognitive neuroscience, developmental psychology, and prevention science.
Bryck Richard L,Fisher Philip A
The American psychologist
Prior researchers have shown that the brain has a remarkable ability for adapting to environmental changes. The positive effects of such neural plasticity include enhanced functioning in specific cognitive domains and shifts in cortical representation following naturally occurring cases of sensory deprivation; however, maladaptive changes in brain function and development owing to early developmental adversity and stress have also been well documented. Researchers examining enriched rearing environments in animals have revealed the potential for inducing positive brain plasticity effects and have helped to popularize methods for training the brain to reverse early brain deficits or to boost normal cognitive functioning. In this article, two classes of empirically based methods of brain training in children are reviewed and critiqued: laboratory-based, mental process training paradigms and ecological interventions based upon neurocognitive conceptual models. Given the susceptibility of executive function disruption, special attention is paid to training programs that emphasize executive function enhancement. In addition, a third approach to brain training, aimed at tapping into compensatory processes, is postulated. Study results showing the effectiveness of this strategy in the field of neurorehabilitation and in terms of naturally occurring compensatory processing in human aging lend credence to the potential of this approach. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved).
10.1037/a0024657