Paper—An Integrated Approach to Neuro-development Neuroplasticity and Cognitive improvement An Integrated Approach to Neuro-development, Neuroplasticity and Cognitive Improvement https://doi.org/10.3991/ijes.v6i3.9034 Athanasios S. Drigas ( * ) , Maria Karyotaki, National Center for Scientific Research-Demokritos, Attica, Greece dr@iit.demokritos.gr Charalabos Skianis University of the Aegean, Karlovassi, Greece Abstract—Plasticity is a basic process that underlies neural and cognitive functioning, unraveling thus the former’s pervasive role in development and learning. Plasticity processes operate in both normal development and in the development following early injury. However, as the neural system matures, there is a gradual commitment of neural resources to, maturationally defined functions and a concomitant loss in flexibility and in the capacity of the system to reorganize. Brain plasticity has been intertwined with induced reorganization of local patterns of connectivity in the neural system, whose specification and stabilization relies on dynamic processes that are the product of the multidirectional interaction of genetic processes, contingencies of input and the demands of the learning environment. Moreover, bioenergetic challenges- exercise, diet and activity in neuronal circuits-synaptic plasticity and neurogenesis, are innately connected to cognitive function, such as learning, memory, attention, emotion regulation and human behavior. Keywords—cognitive science, neurosciences, neuroplasticity, neurogenesis 1 Introduction Neurons interconnect and communicate with each other at specialized sites, called synapses. The majority of excitatory synapses reside on dendritic spines, tiny protrusions emanating from dendrites (1). Spines contain molecular components for synaptic signaling and plasticity, such as ionotropic and metabotropic receptors, cytoskeletal and adaptor proteins as well as various signaling molecules (2, 3, 4, 5, and 6). Spine formation and plasticity is fundamental both to the development and experience-dependent remodeling of neural circuits throughout human’s (30) and animal’s life (7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, and 14). Furthermore, brain circuits change in response to early sensory experience, depending on the type of manipulation, the time window of manipulation and the type of neurons (15, 16, and 17). Rohrer first attempts to show that brain areas that researchers once assumed were only activated by spatial and bodily orientations are also activated by linguistic cues 4 http://www.i-jes.org