JUGGLING GROWS THE BRAIN.
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/5615.php
01 Feb 2004
It's no longer just a party trick. Juggling might also
enhance your brainpower.
A new study published in the journal Nature finds that
learning to juggle may cause certain areas of your brain to
grow.
The finding challenges conventional wisdom the structure of
the brain cannot change except through aging and disease.
Previous studies have shown learning can result in changes
in brain activity. But this latest study demonstrates an
anatomical change as a result of learning - that is, the
brain size actually expands.
German researchers divided 24 non-jugglers into two groups
and assigned one group to practice juggling for three
months. The scientists performed brain scans on the
volunteers using magnetic resonance imaging, or MRI, before
and after they learned to juggle.
The type of MRI scans the researchers used allowed them to
focus on structural changes rather than changes in brain
activity. Using a sophisticated analysis technique called
voxel-based morphology, the researchers were then able to
investigate changes in brain gray matter, the area of the
brain that consists mostly of the cell bodies of neurons
rather than the connective fibers.
The study found that volunteers who did not train to juggle
showed no difference in their brain scans over the
three-month period. However, those who now acquired the
skill demonstrated an increase in gray matter in two areas
of the brain involved in visual and motor activity, the
mid-temporal area and the posterior intraparietal sulcus.
Scientists defined increases as a bigger volume and higher
density of gray matter in those areas.
While the increase in brain size appears to be due to an
expansion in gray matter area, the nature of this increase
is not clear. Since the study focused on gray matter, the
researchers were primarily looking at changes in cells
rather than their connections.
Use it or Lose it
'It has generally been accepted that new neuron formation
in adults is limited to particular areas of the brain.
However, this dogma is changing,' according to Dr. George
Wittenberg at the Department of Neurology at Wake Forest
University Medical Center in Winston-Salem, N.C.
Dr. Arne May, assistant professor of neurology at the
University of Regensburg in Germany and the head researcher
of the study, believes, 'The growth of cells could be due
to locally new cells, stem cells invading from somewhere
else or local connections between cell, _ but we simply do
not know.'
Interestingly, increase in brain size does not last. After
three months of no practice, the group that learned to
juggle lost their gained brain power and the enhanced brain
regions decreased in size.
'The brain is like a muscle, we need to exercise it,' says
May. While the effects appear to only be transient, the
study provides an example of how activity may have growth
benefits on the brain.
It is not clear whether increases in brain size would be
more permanent if the training time were extended. May and
colleagues are interested in examining the timeframe of
these alterations and whether the changes are affected by
age.
What does this say about our understanding of brain health?
In terms of disease, Wittenberg says, 'Many diseases result
in loss of gray matter: all the dementing illnesses,
stroke, trauma, etc.'
While the current study does not shed any immediate light
on such illnesses, experts believe a better understanding
of the nature of these structural changes in the brain may
contribute to our knowledge of brain diseases.
Written by: Christian Nordqvist Editor: Medical News Today
