quick study neuroscience crosswords don’t make you clever _ the economist
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8/19/13 Quick Study: Neuroscience: Crosswords don’t make you clever | The Economist
www.economist.com/blogs/prospero/2013/08/quick-study-neuroscience?fsrc=scn%2Ffb%2Fwl%2Fbl%2Fcrosswordsdontmakeyouclever 1/5
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Aug 16th 2013, 10:24 by A.B.
Quick Study: Neuroscience
Crosswords don’t make you clever
NICHOLAS SPITZER is a professor ofneuroscience at the University of California.His research concentrates on the ways inwhich neurons take on specialised functionsto enable signalling in the brain. He is editorinchief of BrainFacts.org, a publicinformation service about the brain andnervous system, and is instrumental in theBRAIN Initiative, a research project backedby the White House to advance newtechnologies to help map the brain.
What do you know about the brain thatthe rest of us don’t?
The structure and function of the brain aredetermined by genes and environment. Wethink we know this—it’s nature and nurture—but what many don’t realise is that thisremains true throughout life. People think thebrain is malleable only when we’re young.But that’s just not true. The forms ofplasticity we see in the young brain are sustained in the mature brain. By plasticity I meanthe ability of the brain to change its structure and function in response to changes in theenvironment. In addition to the classical ways the brain changes (the strength of theconnections, synapses and neurons) we now understand a third kind of brain plasticity inwhich the neurotransmitter molecules—the signals from one neuron to another—canactually switch.
Suggested Reading: “Neurotransmitter Switching in the Adult Brain Regulates Behaviour”,Science, April 26th 2013
What does this mean for human development?
Our experiments have mainly been done on adult rats. A finding that is directly related to thehuman condition is that putting the animals on different photoperiods [day and night cycles]changes the neurotransmitter identity in the hypothalamus [a part of the brain] and this
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8/19/13 Quick Study: Neuroscience: Crosswords don’t make you clever | The Economist
www.economist.com/blogs/prospero/2013/08/quick-study-neuroscience?fsrc=scn%2Ffb%2Fwl%2Fbl%2Fcrosswordsdontmakeyouclever 2/5
changes the animal’s behaviour. When animals are on a short day (rats are nocturnal so ashort day is good) they make dopamine, the reward chemical. On the long day the neuronsswitch from dopamine to somatostatin, which retards growth.
We test the behaviour with a simple maze that has a dark side and a light arm. When theyhave the dopamine from the short day they waltz around in the light arm, but during the longday cycle they hide out in the dark side. Their anxiety or confidence depends on theneurotransmitters which, in turn, depend on the light experience.
We think this is related to Seasonal Affective Disorder. (I did my PhD in London andremember the short winter days very well!) The treatment for SAD is no longer drugtherapy, but light.
Why do humans become depressed when it gets dark?
We have to speculate a bit here, but the idea is that during the winter months back in thedays when we had a very seasonally driven existence it was perhaps useful to be quiet,withdrawn and sleeping a lot. In the summer months when the spring arrives you want torun outside and be active.
So we are conserving energy and not consuming our resources?
Exactly. There is evolutionary rationale for this kind of change in the brain. The rewiring ofthe brain can occur in seconds as we change the neurotransmitters and neuromodulators,such as dopamine and serotonin. The metaphor that’s useful is a railway switching yard—the trains come into the yard and depending on the switch they can go off to Manchester ordown to Bangor. These neuromodulators route the brain’s electrical activity. The circuitrydoesn’t change but the route does.
What difference does that make to the person?
The bottom line is generation of behaviour. That is the purpose of the brain. This rewiring,which occurs on a very rapid timescale and is completely reversible, changes behaviour.This flexibility of the nervous system makes the BRAIN Initiative project wonderfullycomplicated. It is not one set of wires, or one computer we’re trying to map, it is multiplecomputers. And we can change the wiring to produce different behavioural outcomes.
But doesn’t behaviour itself generate neurotransmitters like dopamine?
Yes. It is a closed loop system. The transmitters generate behaviour and the behaviour inturn shapes the brain and generates the transmitters. The brain changes itself through itsown activity.
Suggested reading: “The Brain That Changes Itself” by Norman Doidge
So an infant that is wellcared for, with a brain full of dopamine, will form a differentbrain to an infant that has bad experiences?
That’s right and we know that at a variety of levels. We know this from children’s homes inthe Soviet Union who had limited intervention and we know from rats and mice thatenvironmental enrichment determines how the brain develops.
So the most important thing for the growing brain is interaction with the mother?
Absolutely. You can replicate this maternal deprivation by taking young rats away from theirmothers and their nervous systems do not develop normally. It’s a very clear connection.It’s fascinating the way in which the electrical activity of the brain shapes behaviour andalso shapes the brain. It’s a remarkably selforganising structure.
Suggested Reading: “Train Your Mind, Change Your Brain” by Sharon Begley
Would your brain look different on a scan if you have grown up in a Sovietorphanage?
Yes. But let me dispel a brain development myth. Many people think classical music is
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8/19/13 Quick Study: Neuroscience: Crosswords don’t make you clever | The Economist
www.economist.com/blogs/prospero/2013/08/quick-study-neuroscience?fsrc=scn%2Ffb%2Fwl%2Fbl%2Fcrosswordsdontmakeyouclever 3/5
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going to enhance brain function (the Mozart effect) or playing particular games sharpensones cognitive function. These theories have been looked at in detail and they don’t standup. It is disappointing in a way, but what we have learned is that exercise is the key thing forbrain function.
Doing crosswords isn’t good for your brain?
It is good for improving your crossword skills but does it lead on to other kinds of advancedcognitive function? No. There is no translation of the crossword skills to other skillcategories. That shouldn’t discourage anyone, they are a lot of fun, but a vigorous hike willdo more for your cognitive function.
What about playing an instrument? Don’t you have to use right and left brain for astringed instrument?
Yes. That has clear cognitive functions that do crossover. Especially learning to play andread the music at the same time. But exercise is number one, diet number two and thensocial interaction. These are the important things for brain function.
Suggested Reading: “How We Decide” by Jonah Lehrer
What do you do to protect your brain?
I’m a rock climber and an ice climber. I go to the Sierra Nevada mountains, anywhere above10,000 feet I’m a happy guy. At home I go to the gym.
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8/19/13 Quick Study: Neuroscience: Crosswords don’t make you clever | The Economist
www.economist.com/blogs/prospero/2013/08/quick-study-neuroscience?fsrc=scn%2Ffb%2Fwl%2Fbl%2Fcrosswordsdontmakeyouclever 4/5
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k. a. gardner Aug 17th, 03:54
Dialectic18 Aug 17th, 03:19
k. a. gardner in reply to Dialectic18 Aug 17th, 03:47
ashbird Aug 16th, 21:57
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This post reminds me that I haven't visited the Babbage blog in quite some time. My personalopinion is DOE should outsource itself to IBM's HyRef.
"But exercise is number one, diet number two and then social interaction.".Perfect! I think I'll run down to O'Malley's, grab a beer and some chips, and pick a fight with aYankees fan. :)
You're on. Hope you're not a BoSox fan (well, at least not tonight... NYY 10 at BOS 3).
Excellent excellent piece.
Thanks for the Qs, the links and recommended readings (it's been a long time since Prospero offeredthese), and Dr.Spitzer's A's which are clear, jargonfree, easy to follow. Spoken like a real scientist.
My general impression re Crosswords exercise is it helps to stuff the brain with more and more
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8/19/13 Quick Study: Neuroscience: Crosswords don’t make you clever | The Economist
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k. a. gardner in reply to ashbird Aug 17th, 13:54
Doug Pascover in reply to ashbird Aug 18th, 09:57
words but does little to advance the part of cognitive functioning that is the linking of these words.Indeed, one of the symptoms of a formal thought disorder is "word salad" an outpouring ofunrelated words that do not string together to make a cogent thought.
Honestly, Ash, after the way you treated Lane Greene (Johnson) and Molly Young on previousposts, I don't know how you can show your face at Prospero again. You're despicable.
Without crossword puzzles I might have forgotten the Alou family. Remembering them seemsfunctionally important.
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