I recently started a thread with the same title in the Nootopics sub-forum: http://www.longecity...ral-plasticity/
However, despite being active in this community for a week, this is the first time I've actually looked outside of that forum, and I think the post belongs here.
It is a fascinating read; the author points out that in normal individuals there exist mechanisms that close the window of neural plasticity for various brain regions/functions, and that autistic individuals have been found to lack these mechanisms. This can help one understand how high functioning autistics often have savant skills while simultaneously being unable to function at an emotional/social level. Because the low level structure never stabilises, it is possible for their brains to perform calculations (and dynamically build structure) at this low level, with the flipside that they're unable to build higher-level structure because the low-level foundations never solidify.
The paper then goes on to list the various mechanisms that control neural plasticity, and how they may be artificially altered in order to reopen this window for adults.
The subject is of particular interest to me. I am planning to construct a stack that allows me to dose-up so as to temporarily open this window and perform a specific learning task that will create new structure, so that when the window closes and the brain restores it's natural balance, this new structure is preserved.
As I would only dose-up when I need to learn material, I should be relatively free from the resistance/tolerance/side-effect problems of constant habitual use.
How might I go about this task? If anyone with some understanding of the subject could help me, I'm most grateful!
The first step may be to go through that paper (I believe I pulled out all the juicy bits in the linked post), examine each mechanism listed and determine whether there is some available compound that triggers that mechanism.
I am keen to create in my mind some categorisation of the various brain mechanisms behind learning. Some basic roadmap. For example there are:
- things that increase blood flow to the brain
- methods of getting compounds useful to the brain past the brain blood barrier (choline, ...)
- Things that increase LTP
- switches for controlling plasticity, as mentioned in this post
- probably a few other categories, for example where do Racetams/Noopept belong?
While I have found several lists, they tend to focus on being encyclopedic, and thus are incomprehensible to me -- it is information overload.
Can anyone point me to some gentle introduction that lays out the basic bird's-eye view? I am planning to create a Nootropic stack for helping me acquire perfect pitch using my own training games (http://www.longecity...-perfect-pitch/), and I think the only way I can progress is by understanding what I'm doing at some level. But information exchanged on this forum tends to be at a high technical level.
Edited by pi-, 27 June 2014 - 10:53 PM.
