plasticity Flashcards
what is plasticity
the brains ability to change and adapt as a result of experience
what happens when new experiences arise
the neural growth takes place including nerve pathways between neurons these nerve pathways that are frequently used is developed into stronger connections those rarely used eventually die through axon pruning by forming new and pruning old allows our brain to adapt
what did maguire et al do
he studied the brains of london taxi drivers using strucural mri scans
what did maguire find
significant more volume of grey matter in the hippocampus than in a matched control group , this part of the brain is associated with the development of spatial and navigation skills
why does this occur
this part of the brain is responsible for spatial and navigation skills , as part of their training taxi drivers must be able to recall many city streets and possible routes and learning this information has lead to change in brain grey matter and neural connection so shows our experiences have impact on brain structure
what do stroke victims research enable us to do
related to functional recovery and transfer of function through neural reorganisation
what is neural reorganisation
undamaged part of the brain takes over damaged reigion of the brain in order to restore sme function does this by forming new connections and brain circuits leading to a change in brain structure
what is neural unmasking
regenerative development occurs due to brain plasticity ability to change structurally and functionally following trauma
what did wall identify`
dormant synapses in the brain which anatomical structure in the brain that are either blocked or inactive
what happens to the dormant synapses when area localised becomes damaged
the synapses are unmasked opening connections to the brain reigions of the brain not normally activated which then leads to neural reorganisation forming new brain circuits
what is the age difference in neural unmasking
it is better the younger you are and neural unmaskng starts to happen as soon as damage occurs and as time goes on neural unmasking slows down
what are stem cells and how are they used
they are unspecialised cells which have the potential to adapt to a different type of cell type, they carry out different functions including taking on the characteristics of nerve cells , if stem cells are implanted into the brain they can directly replace dead or dying cells
what does animal studies do
a strength is that there is research from animal studies to support plastiscity
what is the evidence for animal research
evidence for the brains ability to change as a result of experiences comes from animals, kempermans investigated whether enriched enviroment can alter the number oof neurons in the brain they found evidence of an increased number of neurons in brains of rats in an enricheded complex enviroment compared to those houused in lab cages
what is the explanation for animal research
they showed an increase neuron in hippocampus responsible for meomories shows our experience has an effect on our brains structure , builds neural connections and stronger pathways in active reigions which show that brain does have plasticity and changes with experiences
what is the research suppot for functional recovery
there is reserach to support functional recovery in terms of stem cells .
what is the evidence for stem cells
tajini randomly assigned rts with traumatic brain injury into two groups one group recieved transplants of stem cells into the damaged brain reigion whilst the other didnt recieve this three months afterwards they showed clear development of neurons of cells in the injured area
what is the explanation of stem cells in researhc
this is astrength as it shows that stem cells do play a rle infunctional recovery increasing its validity in the practical applications for treatment as stem cells should be implanted to accelerate recovery therefore adding validity of stem cell method to functional recovery
what is a strength of functonal recovery and neural plasticity
it has lead to practical application
what is the evidence of functional recovery practical application
from our understanding that neural unmasking occurs, we know tht it slows down over time , through our undertsaning we can develop therapies to improve the rate of recovery when Neural unmasking slows down
what is the explanation of practical appklication
therapies include electrical stimulation of damaged reiogions of the brian , if movement is relaxed, electrical stimulation is givenin order to stimulate activity leading to axon sprouting in brain reigion damaged thus accelerating recovery
what is the strength of supporting evidence
there is supporting eveidence for the role of functiional recovery
what is the veidence for the role of functional recovery
Hubel and weisal had sewn a cats eye shut in order to analyse a brain corticalrresponse they found that the area of visual cortex that processed information from the shut eye wasnt idle but continued to process information fro mthe open eye
what is the explanation for the role of functional recovery
this is a strength as whilst the bc fro mthe rsewn eye shouldve remained idle in observannce of sensory stimulu, it instead went through neural reorganisation and rewiring to take on the function of another part of the body increasing the validity of our undertsanding of functional recovery
