How Thoughts Change our Brains

In the 90's, neuroscientists overthrew the dogma that the adult brain can't change. To the contrary, its structure and activity can morph in response to experience, an ability called neuroplasticity. The discovery has led to promising new treatments for many, including stroke patients. But the brain changes discovered reflected input from the outside world. The Dalai Lama wondered, could it work the other way around? "I am interested in the extent to which the mind itself, and specific subtle thoughts, may have an influence upon the brain." And research showed that it could. Through attention, UCSF's Michael Merzenich and a colleague wrote, "We choose and sculpt how our ever-changing minds will work, we choose who we will be the next moment in a very real sense, and these choices are left embossed in physical form on our material selves."

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