We proudly present and congratulate Claudio Brozzoli for being awarded a grant from the Swedish Research Council. See below description of the project:
Temporal Dynamics of Adult Brain Plasticity: Effects of motor learning on brain anatomy and cognitive functions in adulthood
Genes and experience shape our brains during life-span. Neurosciences revealed that plasticity, the capacity of the brain for change in response to experience, even though reduced after normal childhood development, yet endures in the adult age. As adults, indeed, we keep on learning new skills and knowledge every day. During the last decade, research has shown that learning triggers changes at the molecular, functional and even structural level in the brain.
We aim to investigate the mechanisms and the temporal dynamic of structural brain plasticity triggered by learning during the adult age. In particular, the challenge is to identify which structural brain changes reflect learning and how those are linked to the functional changes that become behaviourally evident as a new skill. Furthermore, we aim to identify the conditions that allow for transfer effects from trained to untrained functions.
A better knowledge of the physiological mechanisms behind brain changes during learning in adult age is important to better understand how those mechanisms can be preserved or supported when still effectively in place.