plasticity and functional recovery Flashcards
What is plasticity in the context of the brain?
Plasticity refers to the brain’s ability to physically and functionally adapt and change in response to trauma, new experiences, and learning.
Neuroplasticity was demonstrated by Maguire et al (2006).
How does the idea of plasticity oppose previous theories?
The idea of plasticity opposes the theory that there is a ‘critical window’ for synaptic and neuronal connection formation, which occurs during the first 3 years of life, after which no new neuronal connections would be formed.
Gopnik et al.
What is synaptic pruning?
Synaptic pruning is the process by which extra neurons and synaptic connections are eliminated in order to increase the efficiency of neuronal transmissions.
What did Maguire et al. find in their study of London taxi drivers?
Maguire et al. found a larger grey matter volume in the mid-posterior hippocampi and a lower volume in the anterior hippocampi of taxi drivers’ brains, along with a positive correlation between increasing grey matter volume and the duration of being a taxi driver.
They concluded that a complex spatial representation might come at a cost to new spatial memories and gray matter volume in the anterior hippocampus.
What is functional recovery in the brain?
Functional recovery is the ability of the brain to transfer the functions of areas damaged through trauma to other healthy parts of the brain, allowing for normal functioning to continue.
What mechanisms enable functional recovery?
Functional recovery is enabled through the law of equipotentiality, axonal sprouting, reformation of blood vessels, and recruiting homologous areas on the opposite side of the brain.
What does it mean that function is not always lateralized?
It means that brain function is not always confined to specific hemispheres.
What is an example of negative plasticity?
An example of negative plasticity is Ramachandran’s research into phantom limb syndrome, which he explained as being caused by sensory input from the face skin invading and activating deafferented hand zones in the cortex and thalamus.
This demonstrates that neuroplasticity can result in painful or negative consequences.
What is an example of positive plasticity?
An example of positive plasticity is the case of Jodi Miller, whose entire right hemisphere was removed but was still able to control the right side of her body through the use of cerebral spinal fluid.
This demonstrates that neuroplasticity can result in desirable or positive consequences.
