Plasticity And Functional Recovery After Trauma Flashcards
What is brain plasticity
The brains ability to modify its own structure and function as a result of experience
What is synaptic pruning
Process whereby as we age rarely used connections are deleted and frequently used connections strengthened
What did Kuhn find
Ppts either played or didn’t play video games every day for 2 months, compared brain development. Found video-gaming ppts had more grey matter particularly in cortex, hippocampus and cerebellum (involved in coordination and movement)
What did Maguire find
Studied brains of London taxi drivers, found significantly more grey matter in posterior hippocampus (associated with the development of spatial and navigational skills) than in a matched control group, this spatial learning alters structure of taxi drivers brain
What is functional recovery
Form of plasticity, brains ability to redistribute/transfer functions following damage through trauma
What did Draganski do
Images the brains of medical students 3 months before and after their final exams, learning-induced changes were seen to have occurred in the posterior hippocampus and parietal cortex presumably as a result of studying for exams
What is neuronal unmasking
Where dormant synapses(have received enough input to be active) open connections to compensate for a damaged area of the brain
What is axonal sprouting
Growth of a new nerve ending which connect with other undamaged nerve cells to form new neural pathways
What is neural reorganisation
When a homologous(similar) area on the opposite side of the brain is used to perform a specific task eg brocas damaged, right-sided equivalent carries out its function
Expand on strength that there is practical application
-contributed to field of neurorehabilitation where forms of physical therapy may be required to maintain improvements in functioning
-techniques may include movement therapy/electrical stimulation of the brain to counter the deficits in functioning
-although brain may have capacity to fix itself to a point, process requires further intervention to be fully successful
Expand on strength that there is evidence from case studies to support functional recovery
-case study conducted on EB who at age 2 had his left hemisphere removed, immediately after surgery had lost all language ability but after 2 years of recovery has recovered his language ability and fMRI scans showed right hemi followed a ‘left-like blueprint’ for language
-suggests when brain damaged, dif areas of brain can take over lost functions
H: idiographic as one individual
Expand on limitation that there are age differences and other individual difs
-functional plasticity decreases with age
-neural reorganisation capacity is far greater for young people than adults, demonstrated in extended practice (neurorehabilitation) adults require in order to produce changes
-therefore must consider age when assessing likelihood of functional recovery, not representative of all
-women tend to recover more than men, those who had higher education level positively correlated with better outcomes after brain damage
