Summary: Mindfulness and meditation can affect brain plasticity, resulting in the ability for adults to acquire new social skills, researchers report.

Source: Max Planck Institute.

The human brain is able to change and adapt to new conditions throughout life. Scientists refer to this capacity as plasticity. Until recently, it was unclear to what extent areas of the brain that control social behaviour also possess this ability. To find out, a research team led by Tania Singer, Director at the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, developed methods for training social skills and measured their effects on the behaviour of study subjects, their brain structures and their hormonal balance. Two important findings have now been published in the journal Science Advances.

Meditation is beneficial for the body and mind. Though this may sound trite, it has in fact been demonstrated in a…