All I take is 2000mg of B12 twice a (work) day which does seem to help in concentration.
Can neuroscience give my brain the plasticity of a child's?
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Re: Can neuroscience give my brain the plasticity of a child's?
#22A much better overview: http://www.gwern.net/Nootropics I am a bit torn about this subject. So, in my day job as a biomedical researcher, we would like to have a lot of evidence that something works before giving it to people. But the FDA/research system is not set up to deal with things like this, that are not to treat a disease per se, but rather to enhance a healthy human. Many MDs would see cognitive enhancement…
Isn't the military looking into nootropics ?
I'm not really sure how legitimate this link is but . . .
http://hplusmagazine.com/2013/03/12/the-coming-revolution-in...
I've definitely heard of some military folks looking into nootropics pretty heavily in the specific context of training drone pilots. Since those drones cost 1.3 million usd.
It seems strange, they wouldn't have some ivy league scientists on the experiments as well.
Re: Can neuroscience give my brain the plasticity of a child's?
#23It's a great question but things have a price. You might hack and win that raised plasticity but you might compromise your memory. Natural Selection put there a decay in brain's plasticity for a really good and time proven reason. This is just an hypothesis: the decay in brain plasticity diminishes neophilia and raises neophobia to preserve culture's identity. The new generation attacks the current one with tides of…
Its a stretch to say natural selection put decay in the brain for a good reason. Not every trait was the result of positive or negative selection. Traits can occur as side effects of another trait (of another trait etc etc) that was positive or negatively selected.
If a new, sub optimal trait does not negatively affect the specimens ability to reproduce then there is no reason to try and select against it. Such a circumstance would not imply the trait was positively selected for.
Re: Can neuroscience give my brain the plasticity of a child's?
#24All I take is 2000mg of B12 twice a (work) day which does seem to help in concentration.
The issue is that especially with metrics as flexible as "concentration" or "focus" (which in some cases can be controlled entirely by your mood, location, or your own willful intent), the placebo effect can be very powerful. Keep taking them, because it's probably not hurting, but it's difficult to know if it is empirically affecting your concentration outside of the placebo effect.
Re: Can neuroscience give my brain the plasticity of a child's?
#25It's a great question but things have a price. You might hack and win that raised plasticity but you might compromise your memory. Natural Selection put there a decay in brain's plasticity for a really good and time proven reason. This is just an hypothesis: the decay in brain plasticity diminishes neophilia and raises neophobia to preserve culture's identity. The new generation attacks the current one with tides of…
It's a major fallacy to assume that evolution is somehow perfect. You might be right, but there could be hundreds of potential causes for the reduction in plasticity which do not actually involve protecting you from impairment.
As for your hypothesis, I think acceptance of norms and political beliefs is a process independent of neuroplasticity, which usually involves acquiring specific skills and talents; I might be wrong, but I think even a very "neuroplastic" elderly person may still have great difficulty changing political or cultural views.
Re: Can neuroscience give my brain the plasticity of a child's?
#26It's a great question but things have a price. You might hack and win that raised plasticity but you might compromise your memory. Natural Selection put there a decay in brain's plasticity for a really good and time proven reason. This is just an hypothesis: the decay in brain plasticity diminishes neophilia and raises neophobia to preserve culture's identity. The new generation attacks the current one with tides of…
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Re: Can neuroscience give my brain the plasticity of a child's?
#27It's a great question but things have a price. You might hack and win that raised plasticity but you might compromise your memory. Natural Selection put there a decay in brain's plasticity for a really good and time proven reason. This is just an hypothesis: the decay in brain plasticity diminishes neophilia and raises neophobia to preserve culture's identity. The new generation attacks the current one with tides of…
Natural selection favors _survival_, not _well being_, for example many of us will die of aging but is also arguably one of worst ways to die. So maybe the lack of plasticity is just another form of progressive decay.
Re: Can neuroscience give my brain the plasticity of a child's?
#28Do you really want to be that plastic? Mania may result because all your enforced norms suddenly become malleable. The ruts in the road serve a purpose.
Re: Can neuroscience give my brain the plasticity of a child's?
#29"I hit a plateau..." "I haven't picked up my dulcimer in several months"
In my experience learning instruments follows a 90/10 sort of rule, you can get the easy stuff in a matter of weeks, the harder stuff is subject to severe diminishing returns. You have to practice much more to make the relevant progress. That virtuoso is not a virtuoso because he practiced as a child when he had neuro plasticity, he's a virtuoso because he practices hours a day and then thinks about his practicing when he's not practicing. Even someone who is a moderately good professional does this.
Re: Can neuroscience give my brain the plasticity of a child's?
#30I'm very sceptical of drugs that interfere with neural function. Our brain is extremely complex, with dozens (or hundreds?) of chemicals interacting in intricate manners. We understand not even a tiny fraction of it, just some bits and pieces, and we think we can "fix" or even improve it by ingesting some chemical compound?
Even the few psycho-active medicines we have, anti-depressants etc., barely work at all. They might have some positive effects in studies, but if you actually know someone who depends on such medication, you'll know that they're far from a cure; many people even refuse to take them because of the terrible side effects. And those are pills we have a few decades of experience with!
I'm not holding my breath for a wonder drug that will miraculously engance our learning ability.