Maintaining a Dynamic Brain: A Review of Empirical Findings Describing the Roles of Exercise, Learning, and Environmental Enrichment in Neuroplasticity from 2017-2023

Abstract

Brain plasticity, also termed neuroplasticity, refers to the brain’s life-long ability to reorganize itself in response to various changes in the environment, experiences, and learning. The brain is a dynamic organ capable of responding to stimulating or depriving environments, activities, and circumstances from changes in gene expression, release of neurotransmitters and neurotrophic factors, to cellular reorganization and reprogrammed functional connectivity. The rate of neuroplastic alteration varies across the lifespan, creating further challenges for understanding and manipulating these processes to benefit motor control, learning, memory, and neural remodeling after injury. Neuroplasticity-related research spans several decades, and hundreds of reviews have been written and published since its inception. Here we present an overview of the empirical papers published between 2017 and 2023 that address the unique effects of exercise, plasticity-stimulating activities, and the depriving effect of social isolation on brain plasticity and behavior.