Finding New Pathways to Cognitive Resilience

Imagine a woodland, blanketed with knee-high snow. On foot, you need to cross. Those first few crossings are tough, lifting your feet high, then crushing the snow underneath. With repetition, you’ve built a path and your crossing is made faster and easier. One day an interesting birdsong catches your attention and you stray from your worn path, starting a new one. 

For several days, you follow the new path hoping to catch a glimpse of the elusive bird. Now you have two worn paths. Every so often, exploring the reaches of the woodlands, you create and then retrace new paths. A large tree breaks under the weight of the snow, completely blocking your first, main path. Because you branched out, explored new areas, you have options.

Applied to the brain in a general way, this scenario represents the real-world value of neuroplasticity. Our brain function relies on fast and accurate communication of sensory inputs and responses, traveling through chains of brain cells (neurons) where chemical neurotransmitters serve as the language of that communication. Well-used neuron chains are in effect the snow-packed paths in the woodland.

Neuroplasticity describes how experience and environment trigger the brain to form new connections and pathways. Should a brain injury occur - stroke, trauma, or other - neuroplasticity allows for workarounds that can compensate for impaired function.  This capacity is crucial to rehabilitative therapies. 1 

But neuroplasticity is also key to managing risk and slowing the progression of neurocognitive disorders, including those resulting in Dementia.  New and novel experiences, no matter the type, lay down new pathways connecting different areas of the brain. These pathways allow for learning a new task or committing to memory the sights, sounds, and sensations of a new destination. They open up a network of routes for neuro-communication that can be used for a range of functions much broader than the original task or experience would suggest.

While repetition builds stronger pathways, a recent investigation suggests that prolonged experiences such as physical exercise or stress can change the language of communication between neurons, substituting one neurotransmitter for another. 

A study of mice running in a wheel demonstrated both the switch-up in neurotransmitters and an overall improvement in coordination and motor learning.2 Not only did they run faster, but the mice also had an improved ability to walk a tightrope and balance on a rotating rod. 

This process, the neurotransmitter switch, is of interest to researchers examining mechanisms behind stress-induced diseases. It will also be important as we learn how targeted exercise might be used as a treatment for other diseases. 

Another related area of study with great potential is neurogenesis- the creation of new neurons.  Neurogenesis is regulated by neurotransmitters – think of the study of mice in the running wheel. While neurogenesis is slowed by stress and aging, rates can be accelerated by physical exercise and brain exercise, for example learning new concepts or skills. Of course, many other molecular mechanisms also affect the process of neurogenesis.3  

Neuroplasticity is as complex as it is crucial to our cognitive health. A technical summary would be that curiosity, physical activity, and novel experiences enhance neuroplasticity through mechanisms such as the neurotransmitter switch and neurogenesis. A practical summary though - while the main path may be easy, it would serve us well to tread more paths. Even better, use different tools like skis, snowshoes, or crampons, and skills like using a bird guide, binoculars, and journaling your experiences. 

1 Ackerman, Courtney E., MA. What is Neuroplasticity – A Psychologist Explains. Accessed 4/15/2020 from https://positivepsychology.com/neuroplasticity/

2 University of California Television. 30 June 2017.  “Neuroplasticity: Our Adaptable Brain with Nick Spitzer”. [Show ID: 32521] Accessed 15 April 2021 from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DXA_iTG3XSM

3 Ming, Guo-Li, and Hongjun Song. “Adult neurogenesis in the mammalian brain: significant answers and significant questions.” Neuron vol. 70,4 (2011): 687-702. doi:10.1016/j.neuron.2011.05.001 Accessed 15 April 2021 from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3106107/

Contributor: Karen R. Ogden, team member, Dementia Society of America.

The opinions expressed by contributing authors are not necessarily the opinions of the Dementia Society, Inc. We do not endorse nor guarantee products, comments, suggestions, links, or other forms of the content contained within blog posts that have been provided to us with permission, or otherwise. Dementia Society does not provide medical advice. Please consult your doctor. www.DementiaSociety.org

What is Neuroplasticity?

Put simply, neuroplasticity is the brain’s ability to change and grow throughout time, dependent on its environment. The brain is a sensory driven organism. This means that it thrives and survives and functions based on the input it receives. The brain essentially is a relay station, the information coming in influences the information going out. 
So we want to make sure our brain is wired in the best way possible.

There is a brilliant quote from neuroscientist Santiago Ramon y Cajal that said, “Any man can, if he so desires, become the sculptor of his own brain.”

Cajal said that at the turn of the last century when most everything we knew about the brain came from head to toe physical examination. In fact, Cajal was one of the first people to really study brain cells under a microscope. The conventional wisdom at that time was that your brain was hardwired and what you had at birth was how your brain would be the rest of your life.

In recent years we have learned that the brain is capable of change. Neuroplasticity is the key concept for everything we talk about in regards to brain training.

The picnic game exercise is just one of many examples. The game is played with two or more people. It starts out by the first person saying something like “I’m going on a picnic and I’m bringing an apple,” or something that starts with the letter A. The second person says they’re going on a picnic and they’re going to bring an apple and something else that starts with the letter B. 

The game continues on with each person reciting the items in the list and then adding an item that starts with the next letter of the alphabet. When you expand it out through the alphabet and you get to the letter Z it can actually be rather complicated.

There are two points to this game – improvement in working memory and short term memory, which are very well connected. Short term memory is where you hold onto a piece of information for a brief period of time. If that information is worth committing to long term memory, it will be based on repetition or importance. Repetition is somewhat obvious where you do something over and over again until it becomes learned (e.g. playing a guitar).

Importance is related to something happening that has significant impact. For example, if someone was hit by a car in a hit and run accident and they got the license plate number as the car drove off.  
The picnic game exercises primarily working memory and secondarily, short term memory. Working memory helps you hold onto small amounts of information while you are attending to something else, and is often the first aspect of memory impaired in certain types of dementia. 

Contributor Author: Dr. Michael Trayford is a Board Certified Chiropractic Neurologist and Founder of APEX Brain Centers in Asheville, NC. For more information, please visit www.ApexBrainCenters.com/memory.

The opinions expressed by contributing authors are not necessarily the opinions of the Dementia Society, Inc. We do not endorse nor guarantee products, comments, suggestions, links, or other forms of content contained within blog posts- that have been provided to us with permission, or otherwise. Dementia Society does not provide medical advice, please consult your doctor. www.DementiaSociety.org