Clinical studies suggest the therapeutic potential of psychedelics, including ayahuasca, DMT, psilocybin, and LSD, in stress-related disorders. These substances induce cognitive, antidepressant, ...anxiolytic, and antiaddictive effects suggested to arise from biological changes similar to conventional antidepressants or the rapid-acting substance ketamine. The proposed route is by inducing brain neuroplasticity. This review attempts to summarize the evidence that psychedelics induce neuroplasticity by focusing on psychedelics' cellular and molecular neuroplasticity effects after single and repeated administration. When behavioral parameters are encountered in the selected studies, the biological pathways will be linked to the behavioral effects. Additionally, knowledge gaps in the underlying biology of clinical outcomes of psychedelics are highlighted. The literature searched yielded 344 results. Title and abstract screening reduced the sample to 35; eight were included from other sources, and full-text screening resulted in the final selection of 16 preclinical and four clinical studies. Studies (
n
= 20) show that a single administration of a psychedelic produces rapid changes in plasticity mechanisms on a molecular, neuronal, synaptic, and dendritic level. The expression of plasticity-related genes and proteins, including Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor (BDNF), is changed after a single administration of psychedelics, resulting in changed neuroplasticity. The latter included more dendritic complexity, which outlasted the acute effects of the psychedelic. Repeated administration of a psychedelic directly stimulated neurogenesis and increased BDNF mRNA levels up to a month after treatment. Findings from the current review demonstrate that psychedelics induce molecular and cellular adaptations related to neuroplasticity and suggest those run parallel to the clinical effects of psychedelics, potentially underlying them. Future (pre)clinical research might focus on deciphering the specific cellular mechanism activated by different psychedelics and related to long-term clinical and biological effects to increase our understanding of the therapeutic potential of these compounds.
The standard explanation for bilingual effects on cognition is that an aspect of language processing transfers to nonverbal cognitive performance, leading to improvements in executive functioning. ...However, much evidence is incompatible with that view, and transfer across those domains seems unlikely. The present argument is that bilingual experience modifies cognition through an adaptation to the underlying attention system, making attention more efficient. 'Transfer' focuses on the overlap of specific processes, so task similarity predicts outcomes. By contrast, 'adaptation' focuses on recruitment of the modified resource, so the degree of attention required predicts outcome. In this view, bilinguals require less attentional effort than monolinguals for similar levels of performance, and outperform monolinguals on tasks with high attention demands regardless of task similarity.The standard explanation for bilingual effects on cognition is that an aspect of language processing transfers to nonverbal cognitive performance, leading to improvements in executive functioning. However, much evidence is incompatible with that view, and transfer across those domains seems unlikely. The present argument is that bilingual experience modifies cognition through an adaptation to the underlying attention system, making attention more efficient. 'Transfer' focuses on the overlap of specific processes, so task similarity predicts outcomes. By contrast, 'adaptation' focuses on recruitment of the modified resource, so the degree of attention required predicts outcome. In this view, bilinguals require less attentional effort than monolinguals for similar levels of performance, and outperform monolinguals on tasks with high attention demands regardless of task similarity.
In general, it is well recognized that both acute physical exercises and regular physical training influence brain plasticity and cognitive functions positively. However, growing evidence shows that ...the same physical exercises induce very heterogeneous outcomes across individuals. In an attempt to better understand this interindividual heterogeneity in response to acute and regular physical exercising, most research, so far, has focused on non-modifiable factors such as sex and different genotypes, while relatively little attention has been paid to exercise prescription as a modifiable factor. With an adapted exercise prescription, dosage can be made comparable across individuals, a procedure that is necessary to better understand the dose–response relationship in exercise–cognition research. This improved understanding of dose–response relationships could help to design more efficient physical training approaches against, for instance, cognitive decline.
•TDCS boosts neuroplastic mechanisms associated with procedural learning.•Targeting M1 seems promising for implicit motor learning.•Targeting prefrontal areas improves acquisition and retention of ...implicit association and memory.•The cerebellum is emerging as a promising target area of stimulation for both motor and non-motor procedural learning.•tDCS for procedural rehabilitation is at early stages and establishing standardised tDCS protocols is needed to propose effective clinical protocols.
Procedural learning is the acquisition of motor and non-motor skills through a gradual process that increases with practice. Impairments in procedural learning have been consistently demonstrated in neurodevelopmental, neurodegenerative, and neuropsychiatric disorders. Considering that noninvasive brain stimulation modulates brain activity and boosts neuroplastic mechanisms, we reviewed the effects of coupling transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) with training methods for motor and non-motor procedural learning to explore tDCS potential use as a tool for enhancing implicit learning in healthy and clinical populations. The review covers tDCS effects over i. motor procedural learning, from basic to complex activities; ii. non-motor procedural learning; iii. procedural rehabilitation in several clinical populations. We conclude that targeting the primary motor cortex and prefrontal areas seems the most promising for motor and non-motor procedural learning, respectively. For procedural rehabilitation, the use of tDCS is yet at an early stage but some effectiveness has been reported for implicit motor and memory learning. Still, systematic comparisons of stimulation parameters and target areas are recommended for maximising the effectiveness of tDCS and its robustness for procedural rehabilitation.
Tinnitus is a symptom with a significant incidence in the general population, usually of unclear etiology, that can cause serious difficulties in people's daily functioning, significantly impair the ...quality of life, and have a negative impact on mental health. The paper aims to present a brief overview of current knowledge about this frequent and unpleasant phenomenon, including epidemiology, etiology, clinical presentation, diagnosis, and treatment. The paper highlights contemporary theories of tinnitus that link damage to the peripheral organ of hearing and the consequent neuronal changes involved in the subjective experience, which are the target sites for treating psychological disorders associated with tinnitus. The psychiatric approach to tinnitus is aimed not so much at reducing the sound intensity as at reducing the negative experience of this phenomenon and preventing the development or worsening of existing psychological disorders. The results of previous researches indicate numerous therapeutic options for treating tinnitus, including drugs, cognitive-behavioral therapy, and neuromodulation techniques with promising results.
Tinitus je simptom sa značajnom pojavnošću u općoj populaciji, najčešće nejasne etiologije, koji može izazvati ozbiljne poteškoće u svakodnevnom funkcioniranju, značajno narušiti kvalitetu života i dovesti do negativnog utjecaja na psihičko zdravlje. Cilj rada je prikazati kratki pregled dosadašnjih spoznaja o ovome, često neugodnom fenomenu, uključujući epidemiologiju, etiologiju, kliničku sliku, dijagnostiku i liječenje. U radu su istaknute suvremene teorije tinitusa koje povezuju oštećenje perifernog organa sluha i posljedične neuronske promjene uključene u subjektivni doživljaj, koje su ciljno mjesto liječenja psihičkih smetnji udruženih s tinitusom. Psihijatrijski pristup tinitusu usmjeren je, ne toliko na smanjenje zvučnog intenziteta, koliko na smanjenje negativnog doživljaja ovoga fenomena i sprječavanje razvoja ili pogoršanja postojećih psihičkih poremećaja. Rezultati dosadašnjih istraživanja ukazuju na brojne terapijske mogućnosti liječenja tinitusa, uključujući lijekove, kognitivno-bihevioralnu terapiju, te neuromodulacijske tehnike s obećavajućim rezultatima.
The transition to parenthood is perhaps the only time in adult life when the brain changes to such a significant degree in such a short period, particularly in birthing parents. It is also a time ...when there is an increased risk of developing a mental illness, which may be due, in part, to the increased neuroplasticity. Thus, we must develop interventions and treatments that support parents and promote parental brain health. This review will highlight key findings from current research on how human brain structure and function are modified with 1) the transition to parenthood, 2) parenting stress and perinatal mental illness, and 3) treatments aimed at promoting perinatal mental health. The focus will be on birthing parents and mothers, but brain changes in non-birthing parents will also be discussed. Improvements in our understanding of the parental brain, in health and with illness, will promote the well-being of generations to come.
Executive function (EF) skills are neurocognitive skills that support the reflective, top-down coordination and control of other brain functions, and there is neural and behavioral evidence for a ...continuum from more "cool" EF skills activated in emotionally neutral contexts to more "hot" EF skills needed for the reversal of motivationally significant tendencies. Difficulties in EF are transdiagnostic indicators of atypical development. A neurodevelopmental model traces the pathway from adverse childhood experiences and stress to disruption of the development of neural systems supporting reflection and EF skills to an increased risk for general features of psychopathology. Research indicates that EF skills can be cultivated through scaffolded training and are a promising target for therapeutic and preventive intervention. Intervention efficacy can be enhanced by mitigating disruptive bottom-up influences such as stress, training both hot and cool EF skills, and adding a reflective, metacognitive component to promote far transfer of trained skills.