Think Like Kids Again: Brain Plasticity Study Says It's Possible To Return To The Teenage Brain

It is a common knowledge that kids and teens learn faster than adults. But here's good news to those who would like to think like kids again: Scientists say it might be possible to return to the teenage brain. Researchers conducted a study on brain plasticity and found that a certain drug can make it happen.

According to The New York Times, a recent research in humans and animals focused on the brain development's critical periods. During these times, the neural circuits giving rise to behaviors and mental states are being sculpted and become sensitive to the effects of various experiences. The periods take place in childhood and stop after it; and according to experts, understanding what starts and stops these periods can lead to restarting them again. It makes it possible to return to the teenage brain.

Experts say a child's brain is comparable to a plastic due to its ability to be molded. Children learn and acquire skills fast. But during adulthood, great amounts of brain plasticity are lost; hence it becomes harder to learn and understand new things.

In the study, the researchers focused on the capacity for absolute pitch or the ability to detect or reproduce a note without referring to or hearing another note. They chose musically naive men as subjects.

The researchers randomly assigned 24 men to receive either a placebo or valporic acid. The latter is a mood stabilizer used to treat bipolar disorder. The subjects underwent a two-week training in which they needed to associate a common person's name with six different pitches from the Western 12-tone scale. A few weeks after, the subjects who received valporic acid switched to placebo and vice versa. Scientists found that those who took valporic acid were better at identifying the right pitch than the subjects who received the placebo.

The findings link to valporic acid's ability to block the action of histone deacetylase (HDAC). This molecule stops the proteins' synthesis that promote brain plasticity; thus, closing off the period of learning. Through blocking HDAC's activity, some of the brain's plasticity are recaptured, making it possible to return to the teenage brain.

As of writing, the study on brain plasticity and the possibility to return to the teenage brain has left numerous questions unanswered. But while it is still far from practical use, the possibility is indeed promising.

Meanwhile, Mail Online recently reported about a study suggesting that kids' and teenagers' desire for instant gratification makes them learn faster than adults. Their reward-seeking behavior likewise makes them better at adapting to the environment.