<p>You may be aware of a famous story which found that Taxi Drivers as well as <em>Super Mario 64</em> (3D adventure game) players showed a an increase in grey matter located in their hippocampus.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/mp2013120" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://www.nature.com/articles/mp2013120</a></p>
<p>This (and I'm sure other, older examples and research) demonstrates that the size and/or density of certain brain regions can change as a function of its use, roughly similar to muscles; from this observation stems the questions:</p>
<p>Can a brain, or regions of a brain grow so large as to start pushing up against the skull?</p>
<p>If a specific region of the brain grows or shrinks, will the skull eventually reshape to accommodate?</p>
<p>Is it possible that a brain can shift in weight distribution, caused by prolific development of specific regions, to such a degree that sensitive structures in the skull, head, or neck are affected?</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-10-21T18:57:40.413Z
IIRC "increase in grey matter" means relative to white matter or some such, not an increase in brain overall mass. Generally, few areas of the adult brain can grow neurons.
got trolled too much this week
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2021-10-21T19:10:36.347Z
Frankly I find the claims in [some such studies](https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/318839#Response-learners-lose-gray-matter) pretty dubious, e.g. that action games decrease something and platformers increase something else. It reminds me of the dead salmon fMRI experiment https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/scicurious-brain/ignobel-prize-in-neuroscience-the-dead-salmon-study/.
got trolled too much this week
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-10-21T19:19:54.350Z
2020 newsflash: the dead salmon wasn't alone https://www.improbable.com/2020/06/05/fmri-brain-research-the-dead-salmon-has-lots-of-company/
got trolled too much this week
<brain>
Can a brain outgrow its skull, or have other notable phsyiological effects from increased size or mass?
user7778287
# Can a brain outgrow its skull, or have other notable phsyiological effects from increased size or mass?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2021-10-21)

You may be aware of a famous story which found that Taxi Drivers as well as *Super Mario 64* (3D adventure game) players showed a an increase in grey matter located in their hippocampus.

<https://www.nature.com/articles/mp2013120>

This (and I'm sure other, older examples and research) demonstrates that the size and/or density of certain brain regions can change as a function of its use, roughly similar to muscles; from this observation stems the questions:

Can a brain, or regions of a brain grow so large as to start pushing up against the skull?

If a specific region of the brain grows or shrinks, will the skull eventually reshape to accommodate?

Is it possible that a brain can shift in weight distribution, caused by prolific development of specific regions, to such a degree that sensitive structures in the skull, head, or neck are affected?

**Tags:** brain

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: IIRC "increase in grey matter" means relative to white matter or some such, not an increase in brain overall mass. Generally, few areas of the adult brain can grow neurons.  
> **username_1**: Frankly I find the claims in [some such studies](https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/318839#Response-learners-lose-gray-matter) pretty dubious, e.g. that action games decrease something and platformers increase something else. It reminds me of the dead salmon fMRI experiment https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/scicurious-brain/ignobel-prize-in-neuroscience-the-dead-salmon-study/.  
> **username_1**: 2020 newsflash: the dead salmon wasn't alone https://www.improbable.com/2020/06/05/fmri-brain-research-the-dead-salmon-has-lots-of-company/  

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## 0 answers

