plasticity and functional recovery of the brain

Question 1

what is the definition of brain plasticity

Answer 1

the ability for the brain to change throughout life

Question 2

what is the peak number of synaptic connections the brain has

Answer 2

15000 per neuron at 2-3 years old

Question 3

what is synaptic pruning

Answer 3

• rarely used connections are deleted
• frequently used connections are strengthened

Question 4

when did Maguire et all conduct their research

Answer 4

2000

Question 5

outline maguire et al (2000) study

Answer 5

• studied the brains of London taxi drivers
• found more grey matter in the posterior hippocampus than the control group
• due to them studying for the knowledge test and learning all the city streets

Question 6

when was draganski et al study

Answer 6

2006

Question 7

outline draganski et al

Answer 7

• imaged the brain of medical students 3 months before and after their final exams
• learning induced changes were seen to have occurred in the posterior hippocampus

Question 8

limitation if plasticity

Answer 8

• may have negative behaviour consequences
• brain adaptation for prolonged drug use leads to poorer cognitive functioning in alter life and increased risk of dementia (medina et al 2007)
  60-80% of amputees develop phantom limb syndrome

Question 9

strength of plasticity

Answer 9

• may be a long life ability
• brezzola et al (2012) demonstrated how 40 hours of golf training produced changes in the neural representation of movement
• using FMRI they observed increased motor cortex activity in the novice golfers compared to a control group

Question 10

what happens after brain trauma

Answer 10

unaffected areas of the brain are able to adapt

Question 11

what happens in the brain during recovery

Answer 11

• forms new synatic connections close to the area of damage
• secondary neural pathways that would not be typically used to carry out certain functions are activated (Doidge 2007)

Question 12

what is axonal sprouting

Answer 12

the growth of new nerve endings which connect with other undamaged nerve cells to form new neural pathways

Question 13

what is denervation supersensitivity

Answer 13

• axons that do a similar job become aroused to a higher level to compensate for the ones that are lost
• over sensitivity may lead to pain

Question 14

what is recruitment of homologous areas

Answer 14

specific task are performed by ares of the opposite side of the brain

Question 15

strenght od functional recovory

Answer 15

• real world application
• contributed to the field of neuroehabilitation
• understanding axonal growth encourages new therapies to be tried
• constraint- induced movement therapy is used with stroke patients where thy practice using the affected part of their body whilst the unaffected one is restrained

Question 16

limitations of functional recovery

Answer 16

• levels of education may influence recovery rates
• Schneider et al (2014)
• the more time a person with brain injury had spent in education, the greater their chance of disability free recovery (dfr)
• 40% of those with dfr had more than 16 years education
• 10% of those who had less than 12 years of education had dfr