Plasticity^ Flashcards

1
Q

Brain Plasticity

A

brain can change through a life

Gopnik et al

  • infancy: rapid growth in lots of synaptic connections (15000)
  • ageing: the connections rarely used are deleted
    : most used are strengthened
    Synaptic pruning
  • allows for lifelong brain plasticity
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2
Q

Maguire et al

A

Brain studies on two groups with MRIs
- 16 Lon taxi drivers
- control group of 50
Findings
- more grey matter in posterior hippocampus of drivers
- the area of the development of spatial and navigational skills
Drivers did a knowledge test
- learning it changed the structure of their brain
- the longer the job = more diff structure

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3
Q

Negative Plasticity

A

Medina et al
- brain adapting to long drug use
- leads to poor cognitive functioning and maybe dementia

Ramachandran & Hirstein- 60-80% of amputees develop phantom limb syndron
: sensantion in the missing limb
- the result of cortical reorganisation in the somatosensory cortex after losing limb

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4
Q

Supporting Research

A

Draganski et al

  • similar results to Maguire
  • study the brains of medical students before and after an exam
  • their posterior hippocampus and parietal cortex had changed
    : due to learning
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5
Q

Negative Plasticity

A

Medina et al
- brain adapting to long drug abuse leads to poor cognitive functioning and maybe dementia

Ramachandran & Hirstein
- 60 to 80% of amputes develop phantom limb syndrome
- result of cartical reorganisation in the somatosensory cortex after losing limb

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6
Q

Age & Plasticity

A

Lifelong ability

Bezzola et al

  • 40 hours of gold training
  • change in neural representations of movement of participant
  • fMRIs results show there are more efficient neural representations after gold training
    : scans show a reduced activity of motor cortex in novice golfers VS control group
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7
Q

Seasonal Brain Changes

A

Tramontin & Brenowitz

  • the suprachiasmatic nucleus regulates the sleep wake cycle
  • found to shrink during spring
  • expand in autumn
    : due to seasonal changes in all animals, the studies are usually conducted on animals
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