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Learning to juggle or practicing the piano, for example, gradually increases myelination in the brain circuits involved, optimizing for these abilities.

But the same adaptive myelination that is essential to learning, attention and memory has a dark side.

The new findings, to be published June 5 in Nature, show how using addictive drugs can drive maladaptive myelination of the brain's reward circuitry, which in turn reinforces drug-seeking behavior.

In 2022, Monje's lab reported that adaptive myelination could explain why some epileptic seizures worsen over time.

The experience of seizures drives more myelination of the circuits involved, allowing faster and more synchronized signaling, which become more frequent and severe seizures.