Text written in Basque and translated automatically by Elia without any subsequent editing. SEE ORIGINAL

The critom, a new concept to understand the plasticity of the brain

Since before birth, the brain integrates experiences and feelings. Because of them, thanks to the plasticity it has, it adapts. However, this evolution is not linear, there are critical moments and processes whose correct understanding is key to understanding some of the trends and alterations of people. A new concept of analysis and interpretation has been proposed by Swiss and American researchers in the journal Brain Health: the critique.

The critic has been defined by researchers as the complete set of sensory, motor, social, cultural and environmental information recorded before birth and up to about 25 years of age during critical developmental periods. For their study, they have focused on six neurobiological mechanisms: GABAergic regulation by interneuronal parvalbumin, perineuronal network dynamics, myelination, epigenetic regulation, neuromodulatory maturation and synaptic pruning of development.

“The concept of criticoma is important from a psychiatric point of view because it allows us to understand different alterations in a different way.”

The concept of criticoma is important from a psychiatric point of view, since it allows to understand in a different way the spectrum of autism, schizophrenia, post-traumatic stress, depression and other disorders. In fact, it allows us to ask not only what works wrong, or what structures are affected, but what has not been well integrated, for example. The perspective of depression can also vary greatly if we start from the critom.

In any case, the authors warn that the critom is a concept, not an instrument or method to measure brain development.