BRAIN PLASTICITY

Question 1

what is brain plasticity?

Answer 1

refers to the brains ability to func and phy change and adapt due to new learning and experiences

Question 2

when do the brain changes occur throughout life?

Answer 2

infancy
2-3 years old
adulthood

Question 3

what brain change occurs during infancy?

Answer 3

brain experience rapid growth in synaptic connections

Question 4

what brain change occurs during ages 2-3?

Answer 4

number of syn con peaks at 15k

Question 5

how many synaptic connections do we have during adulthood?

Answer 5

7.5k due to synaptic pruning

Question 6

what is synaptic pruning?

Answer 6

rarely used synaptic connection deleted and freq used ones are strengthened

Question 7

what 3 pieces of research must we remember in brain plastcity?

Answer 7

Gopnik et al
Maguire et al
Draginski et al

Question 8

what did Gopnik say?

Answer 8

brain is like plastic and can change seen through 2-3 years brain change

Question 9

Gopnik et al states that _____ _____ allows _____ ________

Answer 9

synaptic pruning enables lifelong plasticity

Question 10

Gopnik et al says that new neural connections are formed in response to…

Answer 10

new demands

Question 11

what did Maguire et al say about taxi drivers?

Answer 11

significant volume of grey matter in posterior hippocampus

Question 12

what is the posterior hippocampus involved in in Maguire’s research?

Answer 12

involved with development of spatial and navigational skills in humans and animals

Question 13

Maguire also found that the longer…

Answer 13

someone has been a taxi driver, the more pronounced the structural difference is showing a positive correlation

Question 14

what did Draginski et al study?

Answer 14

brain scans in medical student 3 months before and after final exams

Question 15

what were the results of Draginski et al’s study?

Answer 15

learning induced changes in posterior hippocampus and parietal cortex due to result of exam

Question 16

what are 2 evaluation points for brain plasticity?

Answer 16

+ accounts for age differences

- ignores negative behavioural consequences

Question 17

one strength of brain plasticity is that it accounts for…

Answer 17

age differences

Question 18

what was previously said regarding plasticity and age?

Answer 18

functional plasticity decreased with age, for example childhood is rapid changes

Question 19

what was previously said about func plasticity and childhood?

Answer 19

childhood have more chance of reorganisation as constantly learning and have new experiences

Question 20

how does Bezzola et al challenge previous views on age and plasticity?

Answer 20

conducted research on those who had golf training and how it changed neural representations of movement

Question 21

how did Bezzola et al track changes in neural representation of movement?

Answer 21

fMRI scans

Question 22

what did Bezzola et al’s fMRI scans find about those who had 40 hours of golf training in comp to control?

Answer 22

reduced motor cortex activities suggesting more efficient neural representations after training

Question 23

Bezzola et al’s research increases…

Answer 23

external validity and population validity of brain plasticity

Question 24

a weakness of brain plasticity is…

Answer 24

there are negative behavioural consequences of brain plasticity

Question 25

why can there be negative behavioural consequences of brain plasticity?

Answer 25

prolonged drug use leads to lower cog func and there is and greater chance of dementia

Question 26

what did Medina et al find?

Answer 26

prolonged drug use leads to poorer cog func, greater chance of dementia

Question 27

what negative behavioural consequence did Ramachandran et al find?

Answer 27

60-80% of amputees experience phantom limb syndrome where they experience extreme pain