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Neuroplasticity is the brain and nervous system's ability to change itself in response to experience, whether positive or negative. It holds great promise for individuals of all ages as it allows us to adapt and learn new things. This chapter provides an overview of neuroplasticity, its different forms, and how we can access it through various tools depending on our age and specific needs.

The brain and nervous system of a baby is wired very crudely, with connections that are not precise. As we mature, particular connections get reinforced while others are lost through developmental plasticity until about age 25.

Our nervous system is forever changed by one-trial learning, where positive and negative events are stamped down into our system. Through experiences such as social interactions, thoughts, languages learned or places traveled to (or not), our nervous systems become customized to our unique experience.

Certain parts of the brain are designed to be plastic and changeable, while others such as those controlling heartbeat, breathing and digestion are hard-wired for reliability. Childhood is a time when learning through passive experience is possible due to the high level of plasticity in young brains.

After age 25, the nervous system requires a different set of processes to create and maintain changes. While early development involves broad connections that are refined through removal and strengthening, changing super highways of connectivity after age 25 requires specific steps that cannot be accomplished by simply deciding to change one's brain.

The speaker acknowledges Costello's loud snoring, which some people can hear while others cannot due to the sensitivity of their hearing. The focus is on discussing how the nervous system changes in relation to perfect pitch and range of auditory detection.

After puberty, the human brain and nervous system adds very few if any new neurons. While in rodents and some non-human primates neurogenesis can occur throughout their lifespan, in humans it is more controversial with evidence only showing that we can add new neurons to our olfactory bulb.

The olfactory neurons in the nose can get sheared off due to head injury, causing anosmia or loss of smell. However, these neurons can grow back and even establish new ones through a pathway called rostral migratory stream. It is unclear whether new neurons are added to the hippocampus for memory center function.

The study conducted by Rusty Gage's lab at the Salk Institute showed that terminally ill cancer patients had evidence of new neurons in their brains after being injected with a label, but it was only an infinitesimally small number. However, neurocircuits can still create new connections and add cognitive functions through making certain synapse connections stronger or removing them.

The nervous system can change if the right chemical and environmental circumstances are created, even though new neurons cannot be added in great numbers throughout our lifespan. Removing connections is important to move through grieving or trauma.

The child nervous system is characterized by change and space between neurons, which allows them to move around and sample different connections easily. However, as we age, the extracellular matrix and glial cells fill in all the spaces making it harder to change existing connections. Deficits or impairments in sensory apparati can lead to plasticity at any stage of life.

The brain areas that are responsible for smell become overtaken by other senses like touch and hearing in individuals who cannot smell. Blind people's visual cortex becomes overtaken by hearing and braille touch.

Blind people have better auditory and touch acuity, which allows them to sense things that sighted individuals cannot. They also have a higher incidence of perfect pitch, indicating that the neocortex is designed to be a map of individual experience. These impairments can lead to enhanced abilities in other areas such as hearing or touch.

The brain represents the body plan that an individual has, but it is also a customized map of experience. If someone becomes blind later in life, their brain may have less opportunity to use the visual cortex for tasks like braille reading and hearing because the brain has changed over time.

The principle of neurology called the Kennard principle states that if a person is going to have a brain injury, it's better for them to have it early in life. This is based on experiments examining recovery rates in humans with lesions either early or later in life.

The human brain has maps or representations of the world around us, including emotional experiences and trustworthiness. Neuroplasticity can help change these maps, as seen in a woman who learned to tolerate someone's voice after acknowledging her negative association with it.

The first step in neuroplasticity is recognizing that you want to change something and being aware of it. This awareness cues the brain and nervous system, making reflexive actions no longer fated to be reflexive.

Neurochemicals are released in the brain when we consciously want to make a change, which allows us the opportunity to do so. The prefrontal cortex signals the rest of our nervous system about something that we're about to do.

The idea that every experience changes the brain is a big lie. Neuroplasticity occurs when certain neurochemicals are released and allow neurons to strengthen or weaken their connections, not just by experiencing something.

David Hubel and Torsten Wiesel did experiments in the visual cortex to explore how vision works. They found that there was a critical period in which if clear vision did not occur, the visual brain would completely rewire itself. Their work showed that the brain is a customized map of the outside world.

In order to change our nervous system in adulthood, we need to think about what we're trying to give up as well as what we're trying to gain. Attention is important for plasticity and changes occur through the strengthening and weakening of particular connections. Hubel and Wiesel's work on brain plasticity has forever changed the way that scientists view the brain.

The critical period was an idea that if the nervous system is deprived of input, it could never change unless intervened early. However, this turned out to be untrue as there are opportunities to rescue the nervous system deficit later on.

Experiments have shown that the adult brain can change provided certain conditions are met, which contradicts the idea that if one wants to change their brain, they need to do it early in life because the adult brain simply isn't plastic. These experiments involved subjects paying attention to subtle differences between bumps on a spinning drum and signaling when there was a change by pressing a lever; as people paid more attention, there were very rapid changes in plasticity in the representation of fingers.

that are involved in that specific experience. One of these neuromodulators is the same chemical as stress, and by paying attention to a particular experience, we can open up plasticity in our brain and change it for anything we want to learn or improve upon.

Epinephrin, also known as adrenaline, is the first neurochemical that needs to be released for change to occur in the brain. It increases alertness by waking up the entire brain and increasing neuron activity, which is necessary but not sufficient for neuroplasticity.

Acetylcholine is released from two sites in the brain, one being the parabigeminal nucleus or parabrachial region. This area sends wires to the thalamus and amplifies sensory input when attention is paid to it, acting as a spotlight. The third component needed for plasticity is acetylcholine released from an area of the forebrain called nucleus basalis.

Stimulating the release of acetylcholine from nucleus basalis, locus coeruleus and basal forebrain can lead to rapid massive learning in one trial. This has been shown by various experiments and is considered a fundamental principle of how the nervous system works. Accessing epinephrine and acetylcholine from these sources can change the brain actively rather than passively experiencing things through repetition.

The Huberman Lab Podcast discusses various ways people can monitor and change their nervous system, including brain machine interface, pharmacology, and behavioral practices. The podcast suggests mastering your sleep schedule to achieve alertness when learning.

The brain does not distinguish between doing things out of love or hate as both promote autonomic arousal and release epinephrine. To stay motivated to make changes, it is important to identify several reasons why you want to make a particular change.

The author discusses the concept of motivation and how positive reinforcement can sometimes hinder one's ability to accomplish a goal. They suggest that individuals should identify what they want to achieve, their driving force behind it, and learn how to create depth of focus in order to combat attention deficit caused by technology.

Nicotine binds to the nicotinic receptor, which is involved in attention and alertness. Some people use Nicorette or other supplements that increase cholinergic transmission like alpha-GPC or choline to improve focus, but it's important to be careful with their usage as they can have dangers associated with them.

Sprinters use cholinergic drugs to increase their focus, as acetylcholine is important for hearing the gun and being first out of the blocks. Acetylcholine also controls nerve-to-muscle contraction, which affects reflex speed. Increasing acetylcholine can improve mental acuity but should not be done through smoking or supplements.

The key principle to improve mental focus is that it follows visual focus. Increasing visual focus can help in increasing mental abilities more broadly, and alertness can be achieved through love, joy or fear. Caffeine and Adderall are also used for accessing alertness but should be consumed in reasonable amounts.

Adderall is a drug that increases alertness and wakefulness by releasing epinephrine from the locus coeruleus. It has clinical uses for attention deficit, but it also has a high probability of abuse and can be habit-forming. Learning on Adderall does not always translate to high-performance off or on Adderall at later times.

Visual Focus and Mental Focus Visual focus is a trade-off between looking at small regions of space with high precision or dilating gaze to see big pieces of visual space with little detail. The brain's ability to focus mentally is anchored in the visual system, so practicing focusing visually can improve cognitive or mental focus.

Practicing Visual Attention for Better Mental Focus Focusing on a particular location increases not only visual acuity but also activity in other brain areas associated with gathering information from that location. To improve mental focus, one should practice focusing their eyes on the precise distance from where they intend to work for plasticity purposes. Wearing corrective lenses while doing this exercise is recommended if needed.

Blinking is a practiced thing and it resets our perception of time and space. It's necessary to lubricate the eyes, but blinking less can help maintain mental focus on a smaller region of space. Alertness can be achieved through mental tricks, pharmacology or hydration while visual focus is important for deploying neurochemicals related to learning coordinated movements.

Closing the eyes is one of the best ways to create a cone of auditory attention, and this is what low vision or no vision folks do. They have tremendous capacity to focus their attention in particular locations.

Elephants and moths have the best hearing in the world, while blind people often develop better pitch and focus on sound to learn. Great musicians like Stevie Wonder also use their ears to orient themselves towards instruments they play.

The ability to stare for long periods of time without blinking can help in controlling the visual window and focus. Feeling agitation while practicing this skill indicates that it's being done correctly.

The speaker discusses ADHD and ADD, stating that while some people have clinically diagnosed conditions, many others give themselves a low grade version due to their habits of constantly looking at their phone. The speaker emphasizes the importance of focusing on challenging tasks rather than passive experiences like watching movies or scrolling through social media in order to engage mechanisms of plasticity and improve brain function.

The ultradian cycles last about 90 minutes, and during the middle hour or so of learning, one should be able to maintain focus for about an hour. To eliminate distractions, turning off wifi and keeping phones away can help in maintaining attention on the task at hand.

Neuroplasticity occurs during sleep, where the neural circuits highlighted with acetylcholine transmission will strengthen and others will be lost. The key to plasticity in adulthood is to engage alertness, focus and then Non Sleep Deep Rest protocols or brief naps of 90 minutes or less can accelerate learning.

People can train their visual focus mechanisms to perform several 90 minute bouts of learning throughout the day, up to three or four. Some also insert Non Sleep Deep Rest for better recovery from intense focused learning sessions.

Engaging in a motor activity that involves self-generated optic flow, such as walking or running, can create non-sleep deep rest and shut down areas of the brain involved in releasing epinephrine. This form of worldlessness is beneficial for accelerating learning and depth of learning after a period of deliberate focused effort.

Key Elements of Neuroplasticity Plasticity occurs throughout the lifespan, and attention is critical for creating a condition where whatever one engages in will modify their brain. Increasing acetylcholine can be accomplished pharmacologically through nicotine or by practicing how long one can maintain visual focus on a target.

Combining Protocols to Achieve Plasticity One can combine protocols such as pharmacology with learning practices to achieve plasticity. It's important to ask oneself if they are giving up the best period of focus that they have each day naturally to some other activity that doesn't serve them well or devoting it instead towards an opportunity to learn. Additionally, getting non-sleep deep rest after learning bouts accelerates the rate of plasticity shown in quality peer-reviewed studies while deep sleep also plays an essential role in accessing neuroplastic potential after age 25.

Learning with repetition and forming habits is another aspect of behavioral practices that allow us to engage in plasticity. This involves doing mundane things repeatedly, incorporating the reward system that involves dopamine, and relates more to habits than learning specific types of information. The next episode will explore movement-based practices for enhancing plasticity and plasticity of movement itself.