Study shows that adventure shapes the individual in
Identical Twins
09 MAY 2013
AFP - The act of exploring helps shape the brain and
adventuring is what makes each individual different, according to a study out
Thursday by researchers in Germany.
The findings published in the US journal Science may
offer new paths to treating psychiatric diseases, scientists said.
Researchers sought to pin down why identical twins are
not perfect replicas of each other, even when they have been raised in the same
environment, and studied the matter using 40 genetically identical mice.
The mice were kept in an elaborate, five-level cage
connected by glass chutes and filled with toys, scaffolds, wooden flower pots,
nesting places and more. The space available to explore spanned about five
square meters (yards).
"This environment was so rich that each mouse
gathered its own individual experiences in it," said principal
investigator Gerd Kempermann of the German Center for Neurodegenerative
Diseases.
Even though the mice were genetically the same, and the
environment they were kept in was also the same, they showed individually
different levels of activity. Some explored a lot, some did not.
And by fitting them with a special micro-chip that
emitted electromagnetic signals, scientists could track how much the mice moved
around and quantify their exploratory behavior.
"Over time, the animals therefore increasingly
differed in their realm of experience and behavior," said Kempermann. Over
the course of three months, they developed very different personalities.
Researchers found that the brains of the most explorative
mice were building more new neurons -- a process known as neurogenesis -- in
the hippocampus, the center for learning and memory, than the animals that were
more passive.
Control mice kept in a less enriching environment showed
less brain growth.
Kempermann and colleagues said they have shown for the
first time how personal experiences and ensuing behavior contribute to
individualization, and that neither genetics nor environment alone could cause
this personal growth.
"Adult neurogenesis also occurs in the hippocampus
of humans," according to Kempermann. "Hence we assume that we have
tracked down a neurobiological foundation for individuality that also applies
to humans."
The findings offer new understanding of how the brain
works, and could shed light on the processes of learning and aging, said Ulman
Lindenberger, director of the Center for Lifespan Psychology at the Max Planck
Institute for Human Development in Berlin.
"When viewed from educational and psychological
perspectives, the results of our experiment suggest that an enriched
environment fosters the development of individuality," said Lindenberger.
An accompanying commentary in Science by Olaf Bergmann
and Jonas Frisen of the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden, said the
research has two main uses.
"Molecular understanding of neurogenesis will
hopefully aid in the rational development of new classes of drugs for
psychiatric disease," they wrote.
Furthermore, it "may teach us... how living our
lives makes us who we are."
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