5.1.2 Development Of The Brain 3 Flashcards
Researchers found several differences between the ___ of those learned to read in adulthood and those who did not. Those who learned had more grey matter in five gyri of the cerebral cortex, and greater thickness in part of the corpus callosum. (p135)
brains
People who develop expertise in every area spend enormous amounts of time practising, and it seems reasonable to look for corresponding ____ in your brains.
changes
Researchers favourite choice has been ____, for two reasons. First, we have a good idea of where in the brain to look for changes – brain areas responsible for hearing and finger control. Second, serious magicians are numerous and easy to find.
musicians
An examination of musicians brains, using MRI, found that one area of the temporal cortex in the right hemisphere was about 30% larger in ____ musicians.
professional
Other studies of musicians found ____ responses of subcortical brain structures to musical sounds and speech sounds, compared to nonmusicians.
enhanced
According to a study using MRI, ____ ____ of several brain areas was thicker in professional musicians than in amateurs and thicker in amateurs than in nonmusicians.
grey matter
A related study on stringed instrument players found that a larger than normal section of the ____ ____ in the right hemisphere was devoted to representing the fingers of the left-hand, which they use to control the strings.
postcentral gyrus
These results suggest that practising a skill ____ the brain to maximise performance of that skill.
reorganises
However, an alternative hypothesis is that brain characteristics that people were ____ with attract them to one occupation or another.
born
One way to address the question is with a ____ study. After 15 months, children in a trained group performed better on measures of rhythm and melody discrimination, and they showed enlargement of brain areas responsible for hearing and hand movements, similar to those seen in adult musicians.
longitudinal
When people play piano or string instruments for many hours a day for years, the representation of the hand increases in the ____ cortex.
somatosensory
A condition known as “musicians cramp” or more formally as ____ ____ ____, is possible when the increase in the somatosensory cortex goes too far. One or more fingers may go into constant contraction.
focal hand dystonia
Previously, physicians assumed that musicians cramp or writers cramp was in the hands themselves, in which case the treatment would be hand surgery or injection of some drug into the hand. Now that we have identified brain reorganisation as the problem, the approach is to find an appropriate type of ____.
retraining
Behaviour changes as people ____ ____. How much of that change is to do with the brain? Lets consider adolescence and old age.
grow older
____ means difficulty inhibiting an impulse.
Impulsiveness
Here is a simple way to measure: Holding hands to the right and left of someone’s head. Instruct the person that when you wiggle a finger, he should look to the other hand. Before age 5 to 7 years, most children find it almost impossible to look away from the wiggling finger. They are ____ in that they do not inhibit the strong tendency to look at a moving object.
impulsive
Looking away from a powerful attention-getter is called the ____ ____. A saccade is a voluntary eye movement, and then antisaccade is a voluntary eye movement away from the normal direction.
antisaccade task
Ability to perform this task improves sharply between pages 7 to 11, and then gradually improves during the teenage years, depending on areas of the ____ cortex that mature slowly.
prefrontal
As you might guess, children with ____ ____ ____ (ADHD), who tend to be impulsive in other ways, also have difficulty with the antisaccade task.
attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder
Adolescents are more likely to choose an ____ ____ than are older adults, in a variety of situations.
immediate reward
According to the research, most adolescents make reasonable, mature decisions when they have time to consider the options carefully. However, they are impulsive when making ____ ____, especially in the face of peer pressure.
quick decisions
If we found that certain parts of the adolescent prefrontal cortex are ____ of strong activity, we may have an explanation for impulsive behaviour. But most research simply reports that adolescents prefrontal cortex is relatively inactive in certain situations, and that result is not sufficient to explain the behaviour.
incapable
Many studies confirm that, on average, peoples ____ and ____ fade beyond age 60, if not sooner. In old age, neurons alter their synapses more slowly.
memory and reasoning
The thickness of the temporal cortex shrinks by about half a percent per year on average. The volume of the ____ also gradually declines, and certain aspects of memory decline in proportion to the loss of the ____. The frontal cortex begin thinning at age 30.
hippocampus
Much of the research underestimates older people. Some people deteriorate rapidly, but others show little sign of ____ in either behaviour or brain anatomy well into old age.
loss
As people grow older, they may be slower in many intellectual activities, but they have a greater base of ____ and ____.
knowledge and experience
Many older people find ways to ____ for the losses. High performing older adults activate more brain areas to make up for less efficient activity.
compensate
At an early stage of development, the cortex is sufficiently plastic that visual input can cause what would have been the auditory cortex to develop different properties and now respond ____.
visually