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Complex tasks such as juggling produce significant changes to the structure of the brain, according to scientists at Oxford University (via the BBC)

A team from Oxford University’s Department of Clinical Neurology studied a group of 24 healthy young adults. They divided the group in two. One of the groups was given weekly training sessions in juggling for six weeks and was asked to practice 30 minutes every day, the other 12 continued as normal. After training, the 12 jugglers could perform at least two continuous cycles of the classic three ball cascade.

To evaluate how the juggling affected the brain both groups were scanned using diffusion MRI before and after the training. At the six week point, a 5% increase in white matter was shown in a rear section of the brain called the intraparietal sulcus for the jugglers. This area has been shown to contain nerves that react to us reaching and grasping for objects in our peripheral vision.

While there was a great variation in the ability of the volunteers to juggle but all of them showed changes in white matter. The Oxford team said this must be down to the time spent training and practicing rather than the level of skill attained.

Speaking to the BBC, Professor Cathy Price, of the Wellcome Trust Centre for Neuroimaging, said: “It’s extremely exciting to see evidence that training changes human white matter connections. Knowing that pathways in the brain can be enhanced may be significant in the long run in coming up with new treatments for neurological diseases, such as multiple sclerosis, where these pathways become degraded.”