Plasticity

Question 1

what does it mean plasticity?

Answer 1

the brains tendency to change and adapt (functionally and physically) as a result of experience and new learning

Question 2

what happens to the brain in infancy?

Answer 2

• the brain experiences a rapid growth in the number of synaptic connections it has.
• peaks at 15k at 2-3years.

Question 3

what happens to the brain as we age?

Answer 3

• rarely used connections are deleted
• frequently used connections are strengthened in process of synaptic pruning

Question 4

what does synaptic pruning do?

Answer 4

enables lifelong plasticity where neural connections are formed in response to new demands

Question 5

what is the research into plasticity?

Answer 5

• part of training for London taxi drivers have to take test of ‘The Knowledge’ assessing recall of streets and routes
• structure of brains (hippocampus) changes

Question 6

Maquire’s results of London Taxi Drivers

Answer 6

• more grey matter is posterior (back) hippocampus than matched control group (non-taxi). part of brain associated with development of spatial + nav skills
• pos correlation with volume in right posterior hippocampus + length of time driving. longer driver=more volume
• plasticity of hippocampus in response to environmental demands