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