Functional Recovery And Plasticity Of The Brain

Question 1

Outline- Research in to plasticity

Answer 1

Eleanor Maguire et al (2000)
- London taxi drivers studied. - found much more grey matter in the hippocampus compared to the control group. - this is because of their need to navigate of which the area of the hippocampus is used for.

Question 2

Outline- What happens during functional recovery?

Answer 2

1) axonal sprouting- growth of new nerve endings connect to other nerve cells to form new pathways
2) - reformation of blood vessels
3) recruitment of homologous areas- so that the other area can develop to be used for that same function until the other area is able to do so again.

Question 3

Outline- brain plasticity gopnick

Answer 3

• during infancy the brain experiences lots of growth in the number of synaptic connections, which peaks at about 2-3 years old with 15,000.
• this is about twice as many as an adult brain as the connections we don’t use as adults are deleted

Question 4

Outline- functional recovery.

Answer 4

Other healthy areas of the brain adapt and compensate for the loss of the ability of the damaged area.

Question 5

Evaluation- practical application

Answer 5

• understanding the processes involved in plasticity has benefitted neurohabilitation
• following illnesses and injuries to the brain spontaneous recovery slows down so we know physical therapy may be required to maintain improvements in functioning.

Question 6

Evaluation- negative plasticity

Answer 6

Medina

• the brains ability to rewire itself can sometimes result in maladaptive behaviour consequences
• for example drug use can result in dementia in later life.