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Social influences on neuroplasticity: stress and interventions to promote well-being
Richard J Davidson1 & Bruce S McEwen2
Experiential factors shape the neural circuits underlying social and emotional behavior from the prenatal period to the end of life. These factors include both incidental influences, such as early adversity, and intentional influences that can be produced in humans through specific interventions designed to promote prosocial behavior and well-being. Here we review important extant evidence in animal models and humans. Although the precise mechanisms of plasticity are still not fully understood, moderate to severe stress appears to increase the growth of several sectors of the amygdala, whereas the effects in the hippocampus and prefrontal cortex tend to be opposite. Structural and functional changes in the brain have been observed with cognitive therapy and certain forms of meditation and lead to the suggestion that well-being and other prosocial characteristics might be enhanced through training.
npg 2012 Nature America, Inc. All rights reserved.
Social influences are among the influences on brain structure and function that are most powerful in inducing plastic change. The vertebrate brain appears to be particularly sensitive to social influences and this sensitivity may be especially acute in primates1.
The brain is constantly being shaped, wittingly and unwittingly, by environmental forces that impinge on organisms. The circuitry that has been implicated in social and emotional behavior appears to be importantly shaped by experience, and early experience in these domains is likely involved in governing differences among individuals in their vulnerability or resilience to future adversity. Studies in both animal models and humans provide a foundation for understanding how explicit interventions designed to promote prosocial behavior and well-being might induce plasticity-related changes in the brain. There is a growing corpus of evidence that suggests that interventions ranging from regular moderate physical exercise2 to cognitive therapy3,4 to interventions derived from ancient contemplative practices5 induce plasticity-related alterations in the brain and support a range of positive behavioral outcomes.
There are many different mechanisms of plasticity and, at the human level, there are methodological constraints that limit the mechanisms that...