synaptogenesis

Study: Psychedelics can promote neural plasticity in the prefrontal cortex and expand pathways for mental health

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– Cred­it: Cell Reports 2018 23, 3170–3182DOI: (10.1016/j.celrep.2018.05.022). Copy­right © 2018 The Authors

Psy­che­delics in Neu­rol­o­gy: Poten­tial for Improv­ing Neu­ro­plas­tic­i­ty (Neu­rol­o­gy­Times):

“Back in the 1950s, research was prov­ing that psy­che­del­ic agents could be effec­tive in the treat­ment of var­i­ous neu­ropsy­chi­atric dis­or­ders. Unfor­tu­nate­ly, just as sci­ence was explor­ing their ben­e­fi­cial effects, the coun­ter­cul­ture was explor­ing and embrac­ing their effects. Slow­ly but sure­ly, psy­che­delics were asso­ci­at­ed with rebel­lious youth and the tumul­tuous anti-war move­ment. As a result, the gov­ern­ment shut down most of the research.

The 1990s saw renewed inter­est in psy­che­del­ic com­pounds as a means to address neu­ropsy­chi­atric dis­or­ders. Research explored the ben­e­fits of MDMA and ket­a­mine to treat mood dis­or­ders and post­trau­mat­ic stress dis­or­der. Now, a new study sheds even more light on the promise these agents might pro­vide. [Read more…] about Study: Psy­che­delics can pro­mote neur­al plas­tic­i­ty in the pre­frontal cor­tex and expand path­ways for men­tal health

To boost brainpower, ignore “smart drugs” and focus on experiences that harness neuroplasticity the right way

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brain_scans

Tra­di­tion­al sci­en­tif­ic ideas cast the human brain as a fixed and essen­tial­ly lim­it­ed sys­tem that only degrades with age. This view saw the brain as a rigid machine in many ways, pret­ty much set after child­hood. By con­trast, we have now come to appre­ci­ate that the human brain is actu­al­ly a high­ly dynam­ic and con­stant­ly reor­ga­niz­ing sys­tem, capa­ble of [Read more…] about To boost brain­pow­er, ignore “smart drugs” and focus on expe­ri­ences that har­ness neu­ro­plas­tic­i­ty the right way

Top insights on neuroplasticity, emotion and cognition (book highlights via Amazon Kindle)

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brain circuitsInter­est­ed  in mod­ern brain sci­ence and what it has to offer to improve edu­ca­tion, health and qual­i­ty of life? Here you have some of the most pop­u­lar high­lights of the book The Sharp­Brains Guide to Brain Fit­ness, cour­tesy of the thou­sands of read­ers enjoy­ing and anno­tat­ing the Kin­dle edi­tion of the book. [Read more…] about Top insights on neu­ro­plas­tic­i­ty, emo­tion and cog­ni­tion (book high­lights via Ama­zon Kindle)