plasticity and functional recovery

Question 1

what is ‘brain plasticity’?

Answer 1

the brains ability to change and adapt because of experience

Question 2

what is ‘experience’?

Answer 2

everything outside the body such as driving a car or learning a new instrument

Question 3

what is the brain in relation to its ability and structure?

Answer 3

the brain is plastic and not a static organ: synaptic connections/neural pathways are continually formed and altered.

Question 4

what happens during infancy?

Answer 4

the brain experiences a rapid growth in synaptic connections peaking at about 15,000 age 2-3

Question 5

do all these connections remain forever?

Answer 5

no - as we age rarely used connections are deleted and frequently used connections are strengthened - known as cognitive pruning

Question 6

what does recent research suggest?

Answer 6

neural connections can change or be formed at any time due to learning and experience

Question 7

what is the main study for plasticity and functional recovery?

Answer 7

maguire et al (2000)

Question 8

what did maguire suggest?

Answer 8

the role of the hippocampus is to facilitate spatial memory in form of navigation

Question 9

what do taxi drivers undergo?

Answer 9

extensive training known as ‘the knowledge’ and therefore make an ideal group for the study of spatial navigation

Question 10

what is the aim of maguire’s study?

Answer 10

to examine whether structural changes could be detected in the brains of people with extensive experience of spatial navigation

Question 11

what was the method?

Answer 11

• structural mri scans were obtained
• 16 right-handed male london taxi drivers participated all had been driving for more than 1.5 years
• scans of 50 healthy right-handed males who did not drive taxis were included for comparison (control)

Question 12

results

Answer 12

• increased grey matter in left and right hippocampi in taxi drivers brain - found in the posterior hippocampus
• correlation found between amount of time spent as a taxi driver and volume the right posterior hippocampus

Question 13

conclusion

Answer 13

results provide support for the idea of brain plasticity and suggest that experience (driving taxi) can change the structure of the brain (enlarged hippocampi)

Question 14

what is functional recovery?

Answer 14

the transfer of functions from a damaged area of the brain after trauma to other undamaged areas

Question 15

what is functional recovery an example of?

Answer 15

an important example of neural plasticity

Question 16

what do neuroscientists suggest?

Answer 16

this process occurs quickly after trauma (spontaneous recovery) and then slows down - at which point the person may require rehabilitative therapy

Question 17

how does the brain recover?

Answer 17

the brain ‘rewires’ and reorganizes itself by forming new synaptic connections close to the area of damage - it can do this through a process called neuronal unmasking where dormant synapses open connections to compensate for a nearby damaged area of the brain