Biology concepts – learning, memory, attention,
concentration, hippocampus, neurotransmitters, neurotrophins, executive
function, processing speed, exercise
In a study from 2011, researchers took overweight kids and
had them start exercising. Those that had at least 30 minutes of physical
activity each day showed increased hippocampus size, and significant
improvement on a CAS planning test,
an alternative to the standard IQ test.
Planning basically means that their executive function (planning, reasoning, and decision making skills)
had improved markedly. They also performed much higher on a math test, even
though no additional math instruction had been given.
Exercise has impacts on memory,
learning, attention, concentration,
and processing speed. So now we know
what we are talking about when we say exercise helps learning. Oh – you won’t
just take my word that exercising helps? Good, always ask for evidence.
Let’s look at studies just from 2013, although there are
many older studies. One study found that a single bout of moderate exercise
allowed participants to more accurately complete a test on memory, reason, and
planning - and it took them less time. Another study indicated that exercise
reduced the loss of cognitive function in middle-aged women. Yet another publication talked about how master athletes (over 50), have a larger brain
volume and better cognitive function as compared to their sedentary
counterparts.
We can go on. Exercise has been shown to support the
cellular structure of the white matter (myelinated) neurons of the cerebral
cortex in patients with vascular disease, important for higher thinking
functions. And another study shows that processing speed is increased after
starting a regular regimen of cardiovascular activity.
Nine-ten year old kids that exercised regularly had 12% larger hippocampi (plural of hippocampus, part
of brain for learning and memory). They were faster on recall tests and they
learned new information faster.
So now that you are convinced that exercise does help
cognitive functions, the question still remains as to how exercise carries out this miracle. The first thing to get clear
is the difference between memory and learning. It might seem that they are the
same thing; you have some experience, either verbal, aural, visual, etc.
and if you remember it, then you have learned it. But there are subtle
differences.
Specialists define learning
as a process that will modify a subsequent behavior. Memory, on the other hand, is the ability to remember past
experiences. Memory is the record left by a learning process, so you need to have memory to learn. You learn to play piano by studying the notes and the
instrument, but you then play it by using your memory to retrieve the notes and
fingering that you have learned.
Back to the mechanisms of how exercise help memory and learning. The easy explanation is that
exercise helps you sleep, improves your mood, and drives more oxygen to the
brain. These undoubtedly help you study better or even notice more that can be
used to build knowledge. These are the factors my dad counted on when he
went running. But there’s much more.
The hippocampus is important for learning and memory. Many
studies of exercise and cognitive function have shown increases in the size of
this part of the brain in exercise participants. Those kids that increased
their “IQ,” they had an increased hippocampus. So did mice from studies in the
1990’s.
Neurogenesis
A lot of the benefits from cardiovascular exercise come
through the making of new neurons (neurogenesis).
Yep, this is a huge exception to the rule that central nervous system neurons
last your entire life and can’t be recovered or new ones produced. Neurogenesis is how
the hippocampi of all those exercisers got bigger.
Regular exercise induces neurogenesis through action of
brain chemicals, trophins and NTs. We talked about brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) 2 weeks ago with respect to mood and we said we revisit this
factor. This neurotrophin actually stimulates your brain to make new neurons!
More neurons means more connections, and more potential learning.
For most all
of the cognitive functions, the lynchpin seems to be BDNF. How does exercise
increase BDNF? We aren’t sure yet. It may be that exercise is a stress, this
increases the calcium flowing into the brain. The calcium activates many
transcription factors, and BDNF is known to require calcium for transcription.
But nothing
is ever simple. It is probable that serotonin, IGF-1, and BDNF are all needed
to increase neurogenesis in the hippocampus. Inhibitors of any one of these
drastically reduce the amount of exercise-induced neurogenesis.
Plasticity
Think of plasticity as a general process, the altering of
neurons and their connections. It involves making more neurons (neurogenesis)
and the number (developmental plasticity
or synaptogenesis) and orientation
of the dendritic connections with other neurons (synaptic plasticity).
Plasticity is crucial to learning and to memory, since all
learning and memory is just a map of connected circuits that work together to
access certain information. It is the number and pattern of the connections
that determine the amount retained. More connections must help this process.
Long term potentiation
LTP is for memory and learning – the reinforcing of neural connections to
make them stronger. Exercise increases LTP, probably through synaptic
plasticity, more connections between two neurons would help reinforce each
other when they fire. We talked about LTP last year, so read that post and know
that exercise increases it.
Unfortunately, for best increases in memory the exercise must be long term. In a 2013 study, neurogenesis was apparent only 14 days after
initiation of exercise, and these were immature neurons. LTP wasn’t increased
appreciably until 56 days.
Processing speed
Increased speed probably comes through increased IGF-1 and
oxygenation, and their effects on the support cells in the brain. Oligodendrocytes and astrocytes help the neurons do their
job at peak efficiency. In particular, oligodendrocytes make the myelin sheath that increases transmission
speed.
Attention and concentration
Exercise also helps your attention and concentration.
And no, these two aren’t exactly the same. They’re more closely related than
memory is to learning, but there are still some differences. Both are important for making you smarter, because only by focusing do we take information in – you
have to notice something to learn it.
When you are in a room full of people talking, you can still
follow the conversation between yourself and one other person. This is one of several different forms
of attention. In general, attention is a thinking
process for directing and maintaining awareness of stimuli in one’s
environment.
Concentration is the ability to control attention for a
sustained period. Attention shifts as we wander from thought to thought about
different things in our mind or environment, but concentration requires
attention to one thing without wandering. In more clinical terms, concentration
is a combination of two types of attention; sustained attention and selective
attention.
Sustained attention
is staying on task, keeping your mind on a single task over time. Selective attention is more about how you pick what you pay
attention to. If there are many activities going on within range of your sense,
but you focus on one thing and pay no attention to the others, that is
selective attention.
It turns out that increased dopamine, serotonin, and
norepinephrine in the brain, and particularly the RAS is crucial for attention
and concentration. And we talked two weeks ago about how exercise increases all
these. In ADHD, they give drugs (methylphenidate) that increase the apparent
levels of dopamine. This helps us make sense of studies that show regular
exercise alleviates the symptoms of ADD/ADHD.
One last point that I find interesting. The type of exercise
seems to make a difference for the increase in neurotrophins. A 2012 study
showed that rats that ran on exercise wheels had increased BDNF in the hippocampus, but rats that
lifted weights (climbed ladders with weights on their tails) increased only
IGF-1. The two proteins work in different pathways, so rat studies show us that
it is best to include both aerobic and resistance training in your exercise
program. And a rat shall lead them.
Next week, can you die from not getting enough sleep. Yep, and that's not the weirdest part of fatal familial insomnia.
For a good resource on brain structure and function, see the
Open College’s interactive brain.
Tam ND (2013). Improvement of Processing Speed in Executive Function Immediately following an Increase in Cardiovascular Activity. Cardiovascular psychiatry and neurology, 2013 PMID: 24187613
For more information or classroom activities, see:
Most
of the information for this post comes from recent scientific journals, here is
more general information from the internet.
Memory
classroom activities –
Hippocampus
–
BDNF
–
Neuroglia
–
I think this is an informative post and it is very useful and knowledgeable. therefore, I would like to thank you for the efforts you have made in writing this article. Brainfort supplement
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