Three scientists discuss their pioneering discoveries about neuroplasticity, the brain’s remarkable capacity to change throughout our lifetimes. For their research, Eve Marder, Michael Merzenich and Carla Shatz were named the 2016 Kavli Prize laureates in Neuroscience.
An interview, published this week by The Kavli Foundation, highlights how their work has changed the way we view the brain as well as human potential.
“The science of neuroplasticity is slowly but surely transforming how we think about ourselves and our brains, and how we can build a stronger brain that provides us with a better life,” said Michael Merzenich, Professor Emeritus in Neuroscience at the University of California, San Francisco. Merzenich is also co-founder of two companies, Posit Science and Scientific Learning, developing computer-based training tools for the brain.
Eve Marder, Professor of Neuroscience at Brandeis University, echoed that view: “”[W]e need to get the message out that after some kind of brain damage, there is much more capacity for recovery than people are often told," she said.
Each laureate has made unique contributions to our understanding of how the brain is remodeled in response to neural activity and experience, from the level of synapses, the junctions between neurons, to circuits to regions of the cerebral cortex. This knowledge may lead to better treatments for neurological and psychiatric disorders, as well as new ways to keep the brain healthy.
Read the full interview here: