Biopsychology - 5) Plasticity and Functional Recovery of the Brain after Trauma Flashcards
Plasticity
The brains ability to physically and functionally adapt and change in response to trauma, new experiences and learning
Who carried out the study into plasticity?
Maguire et al
Who was Maguire et al’s study into?
Study into the brains of London taxi drivers
Findings of Maguire et al’s study into London taxi drivers
Larger grey matter volume in their brains
Positive correlation between an increasing grey matter and the longer the individuals had been taxi drivers
Functional recovery
The ability of the brain to transfer the functions of areas damaged through trauma, to other healthy parts of the brain, thus allowing normal functioning to carry on
3 methods of functional recovery and what they are
Neural unmasking - dormant synapses are activated to compensate for damaged areas of the brain, these receive higher input and new pathways are created
Axonal sprouting - new blood vessels and pathways around the damaged area so new pathways are created
Recruitment of homologous areas - areas on opposite hemisphere do specific task. No new pathways are created
Gender differences in functional recovery
Research shows that women recover quicker than men
Biologically there’s no reason for this to happen
Difference is potentially due to social factors (E.g. men less likely to accept help with recovery than women)
Age differences in functional recovery
The older you are the longer the process is
3rd factor that contributes to differences in functional recovery
Education
Who found that there are educational differences in functional recovery
Schneider et al
How did Schneider at al find there are education differences in functional recovery?
Found that patients with equivalent of a college education are 7x more likely than those who didn’t finish school to be disability-free 1 year after brain injury
Evidence of plasticity other than Maguire et al
As we age rarely used connections are deleted and frequently used connections are strengthened (E.g. French words are forgotten when they haven’t been revisited for a number of years)
What does more plasticity of the brain result in?
More efficient functional recovery
How does functional recovery go against localisation and lateralisation of function?
It could not occur if the brain was ficsed
What type of process is functional recovery?
A voluntary process
Practice is needed to regain a particular function
