Book: Soft-wired Michael Merzenich Flashcards
By the time we are in their 80’s more than half of us have what problems that require serious medical treatment?
(Merzenich 13)
Neurological or psychiatric
Contemporary neuroscience shows us you come from…. and your brain is ….
(Merzinech 2013)
You
Plastic
What is one very striking distinction that distinguish Homo sapiens from other large brain mammals?
(Merzenich 2013)
Our capacity for behavioural adaption
What are just about the least ‘plastic’ of the change-control processes in the brain?
(Merzenich 2013)
The brains processes that account for setting up bincocular (two-eye) vision
Following an injury what does your brain do in how it represents your skin surfaces?
(Merzenich 2013)
It rapidly and dramatically revises the way that it represents your skin surfaces
Following an injury the regenerated nerve inputs try to do what? in the old neurological territory?
(Merzenich 2013)
They try to reclaim, and over time the healed nerve will reclaim much (but never all) of its previous brain territory
What does skill acquisitions or performance improvement at any skills or ability show scientists?
(Merzenich)
All brain change
Researchers have found that plastic remodelling is a near universal proponent of the mammalian what?
(Merzenich 2013)
Forebrain
What is operate conditioning?
Merzenich 2013
The progressive improvement of voluntary responding as we acquire or refine skills and abilities
The brain organises itself on the basis of the concurrent arrival of what? In small moments of what?
(Merzenich 2013)
Information in small moments of time
What compelling evidence has Merzenich and his team gathered to show the three key areas that can predict controlled adult cortical plasticity?
(2013)
- Selective attention
- Our memory
- Our powers of prediction
Is plasticity isolated to any single brain system level?
Merzenich 2013
On the contrary, as we acquire new skills, this remodels entire brain systems and networks
When do our brains begin to change plastically and are first bombarded by information received by our senses?
(Merzenich 2013)
In the 7th month in uterio
At birth what is the brain like?
Merzenich 2013
It is very noisy, very disorganised, very imprecise, very slow in operations, and very very unreliable
What makes brain areas mature first?
Merzenich 2013
Brain areas that receive high-quality information from our senses