ZAP // Dall-E-2
Study challenges one of the oldest ideas about human development: the notion that the brain is born as a “blank sheet of paper”.
It will be one of the oldest ideas about human development: the notion that the brain is born as a “blank sheet of paper”.
One conducted by the Institute of Science and Technology Austria challenges this thesis.
According to researchers, the brain Children actually start with a network extremely dense and full of connectionswhich is refined throughout growth through a process of selective elimination of connections.
The research, published in the scientific journal Nature Communications, focused on hip
ocampo, the brain region responsible for memory and spatial orientation.
Scientists analyzed the development of neurons known as “CA3 pyramidal neurons” in mice, following different stages of growth: right after birth, during adolescence and in adulthood.
The results revealed that, In the first days of life, neuronal connections are numerous and apparently random.
As the brain matures, many of these connections are eliminated, making the network less dense, but much more efficient and organized. Rather than continually growing in complexity, the brain appears to follow a “pruning”: It starts overloaded with connections and gradually refines the most useful circuits.
Researchers believe that this strategy allows the brain to quickly integrate complex stimuli (sounds, images and smells) and transform them into memories.
An initially very connected system would facilitate communication between neurons, accelerating learning in the first stages of life, explains .
The discovery may have implications important in understanding cognitive development and neurological diseases associated with the formation of memories.
For the authors, the study suggests that the human brain is not born empty waiting for experience, but rather prepared with a rich and flexible architecture that experience shapes over time.
