Hey everyone,
I came across this article recently and thought it might be interesting for this group:
http://theweek.com/a...of-a-7-year-old
"... Takao Hensch, a professor of molecular and cellular biology at Harvard, who is studying a drug that may make it dramatically easier for grown-ups to absorb new skills and information — almost as if they were seven years old or younger.
The key ingredient here is valproic acid. Normally, it's used to treat neurological disorders like seizures and epilepsy, and various other mood disorders. But Hensch claims it may help restore plasticity in the adult brain."
The study:
http://www.ncbi.nlm....les/PMC3848041/
"Absolute pitch, the ability to identify or produce the pitch of a sound without a reference point, has a critical period, i.e., it can only be acquired early in life. However, research has shown that histone-deacetylase inhibitors (HDAC inhibitors) enable adult mice to establish perceptual preferences that are otherwise impossible to acquire after youth. In humans, we found that adult men who took valproate (VPA) (a HDAC inhibitor) learned to identify pitch significantly better than those taking placebo ..."
Wikipedia entry: http://en.wikipedia....i/Valproic_acid
"Valproate causes birth defects "
"potential for sudden and severe, possibly fatal, fulminating impairments in liver and impairments of hematopoietic or pancreatic function"
"Excessive amounts of valproic acid can result in tremor, stupor, respiratory depression, coma, metabolic acidosis, and death"
It sounds way too dangerous to take, but maybe it helps point towards a way of helping gain plasticity. However, I think it is a fine line between loosening the brain to learn and loosening it so that it falls apart.
