neuroVIZR – Sensory Enrichment & Neuroplasticity
Garnet Dupuis / Lucid Studios
February 25, 2022
Undoubtedly the new understanding that the adult brain is capable of continued positive change is one of the top discoveries in recent times. This capacity is known as “neuroplasticity”.
“Neuroplasticity” refers to your brain’s ability to restructure or rewire itself when it recognizes the need for adaption. In other words, it can continue developing and changing throughout life.
Amazingly, medical science taught the opposite up until just a few years ago...hence the well-known saying that “you cannot teach an old dog new tricks”. Turns out, you can!
So, if a change can happen, the question that must follow immediately is...how?
Let’s look at this thing called Sensory Enrichment.
Sensory Enrichment
Sensory Enrichment studies began quite a while ago (1947, Hebb) and started off with rodents and their living environment.
Skipping over lots of research and tons of details, the findings clearly illustrated that the brains of rodents living in higher levels of sensory stimulation had much, much better brains, both functionally and structurally.
Continual research has expanded the exploration to include primates and humans.
Sensory Enrichment is a component of a larger field of study known scientifically as Environmental Enrichment (EE).
(Neurological Rehabilitation, Stephen B. Dunnett, in Handbook of Clinical Neurology, 2013)
“Environmental enrichment increases sensory, cognitive, and motor stimulation and promotes activation, signaling, and neuronal plasticity in all brain areas, such as sensory ones like visual cortex, auditory cortex, or somatosensory cortex or non-sensory ones like the hippocampus, the amygdala, the basal ganglia, and the cerebellar cortex.”
(Enriched and Deprived Sensory Experience Induces Structural Changes and Rewires Connectivity during the Postnatal Development of the Brain, Harkaitz Bengoetxea, Naiara Ortuzar, Susana Bulnes, Irantzu Rico-Barrio, José Vicente Lafuente, and Enrike G. Argandoña)
“A classical dogma in neuroscience is that brain plasticity undergoes a dramatic decline with age. Significant effort is being made in multiple laboratories to develop new strategies aimed at enhancing CNS plasticity after the end of the early Critical Period of youth. In this fascinating field, the visual system emerges as the election test bed.”
(Nurturing brain plasticity: impact of environmental enrichment, L Baroncelli, C Braschi, M Spolidoro, T Begenisic, A Sale & L Maffei, Cell Death & Differentiation)
Enrichment Approaches to Enhance Neuroplasticity
Conventional perspectives suggest a short list of possible Enrichment approaches to enhance your brain’s neuroplasticity:
1. Play Video Games
(gulp)...perhaps not the ones where you kill everyone:
The benefits associated with gaming include improvements in:
- motor coordination
- visual recognition and spatial navigation
- memory and reaction time
- reasoning, decision making, and problem-solving skills
- resilience
- cooperation and team participation
2. Learn a New Language
Studying a new language at any age can lead to:
- stronger problem-solving and creative thinking skills
- improved vocabulary
- greater reading comprehension
- increased ability to multitask
3. Make Some Music
Even if you are not so musically inclined:
- better audio and visual perception
- greater focus and attention
- better memory
- better motor coordination
4. Physical Exercise
When you move your body, you move your brain:
- stronger muscles
- improved fitness and health
- better sleep
5. Make Art
It is not about the talent – let it flow:
- improve creativity
- interrupt unwanted habits
- help you find new solutions to problems
The NeuroVIZR Light/Sound Brain Engagement Experience
And now, we have the NeuroVIZR Light/Sound Brain Engagement Experience.
In an easy to use, comfortable, wearable headset, you can enjoy wonderfully crafted Sensory Enrichment/Neuroplastic stimulations.
Consider it as Brain Exercise or Creative Entertainment or Consciousness Exploration or just Healthy Fun and an Escape from Stress.