chapter 5

Question 1

Define the difference between experience-dependent and experience-expectant plasticity.

Answer 1

Experience-expectant: Brain changes in response to an experience that is expected; common during developmental stages; if it doesn’t occur it can affect development

Experience-dependent: Changes part of the neural structure already present, can occur at any time, commonly occurs when learning something new

Question 2

Define neuroplasticity.

Answer 2

The ability of the brain and the nervous system to adapt and change in response to experience

Question 3

Explain why younger people have a higher amount of adaptive plasticity.

Answer 3

Younger people have higher adaptive plasticity because their brains are still growing and developing; meaning they can recover from brain damage and injury quicker and more completely

Question 4

Define Broca’s aphasia.

Answer 4

• A disorder caused by an acquired brain injury; damage to the left frontal lobe; affects language production and processing
• Symptoms include difficulty producing speech, speaking in very short sentences, leaving out words like “the”, “to”, etc.
• Lack of fluent speech; aware that they have language difficulties, can still understand the speech of others

Question 5

Define Wernicke’s aphasia.

Answer 5

• A disorder caused by an acquired brain injury; damage to left temporal lobe; affects comprehension and understanding of spoken and written language
• Symptoms include difficulty speaking in a meaningful way (they can speak fluently but what they say will make no sense)
• Often speaking in the correct rhythm and sound of speech, but the content won’t make sense
• Little to no awareness of their condition

Question 6

Define acquired brain injuries.

Answer 6

Any type of brain damage that occurs after birth

Question 7

Define traumatic brain injuries.

Answer 7

A type of acquired brain injury that occurs when an external force causes damage to the brain (blunt force trauma, car accidents, physical attacks, etc)