Neural Plasticity Flashcards
What is neural plasticity?
The ability of neurons, brain areas and networks to change in structure and function
What experiential factors can influence our neural plasticity?
Stimulation from the environment
Cultural factors
An individual’s job or career
Give an example of how stimulation from the environment affects neural plasticity
Massaging the heads of premature infants causes faster neural growth compared with a control group
Musicians have more activity in the areas of their brain devoted to fine motor movements, and the more they play the more pronounced the difference is
Give an example of how cultural factors affect neural plasticity
European and Japanese adults, when shown the same scenes of a landscape with objects, will focus on different aspects of the scene - the Europeans pick out the objects, while the Japanese focus on the scene as a whole
This has an effect on brain areas - the Europeans have more activity in the object recognition region of the visual cortex, while the Japanese have more activity in the scene processing region of the visual cortex
Give an example of how an individual’s job or career affects neural plasticity
Over time, the hippocampus (particularly the posterior hippocampus) of taxi drivers became larger than that of individuals with different jobs
What is the relationship between the number of synapses that young children and adults have?
One to two year old children have around 50% more synapses than fully mature adults do
Why do children have more synapses than adults?
Over time, unused or weaker synapses are pruned away, and neurons die
Does neural plasticity last an individual’s entire life?
Yes - the remaining neurons form new connections in response to our experiences
