Functional recovery Flashcards
biopsychology
What is functional recovery?
Research to see how the brain adapts following damaged as a result of physical injury or instances where individuals have, for example, had a stroke and areas of the brain have become damaged so other areas of the brain try to take over some of their functions
What is spontaneous recovery?
When recovery happens quickly after the trauma but individuals may still need some additional form of therapy as the neural recovery process starts to slow down
How does functional recovery happen?
The brain is plastic so can rewire and reorganise itself to deal with trauma. New synapses can be formed near the area that has become damaged.
What are the 4 processes used in functional recovery?
Neuronal unmasking
Axonal sprouting
Denervation supersensitivity
Stem cells
What is neuronal unmasking?
Dormant (unused) neurons become active to take over functioning
What is Axonal Sprouting?
New nerve endings can grow off axons to connect with other undamaged neurons to form new pathways to fire messages across
What is Denervation supersensitivity?
Existing axons that send similar neural messages become aroused when similar axons become damaged. this makes the undamaged axons more sensitive to be able to take over the damaged ones
What do stem cells do?
They are cells which are unspecialised. They have the potential to develop into any cell type and as such could be implanted in the brain to replace damaged cells.
What’s a strength of functional recovery?
Has many useful applications - rehabilitation programmes have been developed e.g. neurorehabilitation includes the use of motor therapy - strengthens neural pathways - highlights the value of this theory improving an individual’s quality of life
What’s a limitation of functional recovery?
Individual differences- success of the recovery seems to depend on age- more successful in children than adults (Elbert et al)- bain is more plastic as a child - cannot be certain that it works for all brains
