Vagus Nerve Stimulation Could Help New Skills Stick

Stimulating the vagus nerve after practice helped mice develop stronger long-term motor learning, revealing a potentially important window when the brain is still locking in a new skill. The effect was linked to rhythmic changes in brain blood vessels, hinting that body-to-brain signals may help prepare the brain for lasting change. Vagus Nerve Stimulation Could Help New Skills Stick.

Vagus Nerve Stimulation Could Help New Skills Stick Science News from research organizations Vagus Nerve Stimulation Could Help New Skills Stick Scientists found that stimulating a major body-to-brain nerve after practice may open a hidden window that helps new skills stick. The difference may involve more than talent or effort. It may also depend on whether the brain is in the right condition to turn practice into lasting learning.

Learning does not happen independently of the rest of the body. Internal organs constantly send information to the brain through the vagus nerve, one of the nervous system’s major communication pathways. Researchers at Tohoku University who study super network brain physiology have now shown in mice that stimulating this nerve after training can strengthen long term motor learning.

Their findings point to a previously overlooked role for communication from the body to the brain in helping new skills persist.