Publicado en 'Journal of Neuroscience' Aprender a controlar la actividad cerebral mejora la sensibilidad visual

Foto: ALBERTO PERDOMO/FLICKR

MADRID, 5 Dic. (EUROPA PRESS) -

Controlar la propia actividad cerebral en las zonas precisas del cerebro puede mejorar aspectos fundamentales de la sensibilidad visual, según concluye un nuevo estudio, publicado en 'Journal of Neuroscience'. Este enfoque no invasivo llamado "neurofeedback" podría algún día ser utilizado para mejorar la función cerebral en pacientes con patrones anormales de actividad, como aquellos con accidente cerebrovascular, según los autores de la investigación.

Científicos del Centro Wellcome Trust de Neuroimagen de la University College London (UCL) utilizaron imágenes de resonancia magnética funcional en tiempo real que permitieron a los participantes en la investigación observar su propia actividad cerebral en una pantalla, una técnica conocida como "neurofeedback". Durante la fase de entrenamiento, se les pidió que trataran de aumentar la actividad en el área del cerebro que procesa la información visual, la corteza visual, pensando en imágenes y observando cómo respondían sus cerebros.

Tras el entrenamiento, la percepción visual de los participantes se puso a prueba utilizando una nueva tarea que les obligaba a detectar cambios muy sutiles en el contraste de una imagen. Cuando se les pidió repetir esta tarea, los que habían aprendido con éxito a controlar su actividad cerebral mejoraron su capacidad para detectar incluso los cambios muy pequeños en el contraste de la imagen.

El autor principal, el doctor Frank Scharnowski, ahora profesor en la Universidad de Ginebra, explica: "Hemos demostrado que podemos entrenar a las personas para manipular su actividad cerebral y mejorar su propia sensibilidad visual, sin cirugía y sin drogas".

En el pasado, los investigadores han utilizado registros de la actividad eléctrica en el cerebro para formar a las personas para mejorar en distintas tareas, como disminuir los tiempos de reacción o mayor destreza musical. La ventaja de la resonancia magnética funcional usada en este estudio es que se puede ver exactamente en qué parte del cerebro está teniendo efecto la formación, por lo que se puede enfocar la formación en áreas concretas del cerebro que son responsables de tareas específicas.

"El siguiente paso es poner a prueba este método en la práctica clínica para ver si podemos ofrecer algún beneficio a los pacientes, por ejemplo, para los pacientes con accidente cerebrovascular que pueden tener problemas con la percepción, a pesar de que no tengan ningún daño en su visión", concluye el doctor Scharnowski.

http://www.europapress.es/salud/noticia-aprender-controlar-actividad-cerebral-mejora-sensibilidad-visual-20121205165301.html

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