Plasticity And Functional Recovery Of The Brain Flashcards
Research support from animal studies:
Kempermann et. al
They investigated whether an enriched environment could alter the number of nuerons in the brain.
They found evidence of an increased number of a new nuerons in the brains of rats housed in complex environments compared to laboratory cages
Those in the complex environment showed an increase in neurons in the hippocampus an parts of the brain associated with the ability to navigate from one location to another
Research supports from human studies:
Maguire et al.
They studied taxi drivers to discover whether changes in the brain could be detected as a result of their extensive experience of spatial navigation
Using an MRI scanner, researchers calculated the amount of grey matter in the brains of taxidrivers and a set of control participants
They found that the posterior hippocampi of taxidrivers was significantly larger than the control group and its volume was positively correlated with the amount of time that is spent as a taxi driver
Research support from animal studies:
Tajiri et al
They provided evidence for the role of scams out in recovery from brain injury
They randomly assigned rats with brain injury to one of two groups. One group received stem cell treatment the other group received a solution containing no stem cells
They found that after three months the brains of the stem cell rats showed clear development of a nueron-like cells in the area of injury and also a solid stream of stem cells migrate into the brains sight of injury
Age difference in functional recovery:
Huttenlocher (2002)
Elbert et al (2001)
H: It is believed that functional plasticity reduces with age
Dealing with brain injury beyond childhood is done by developing compensatory behavioural strategies to work around the deficit
Some studies have suggested that even abilities commonly thought to be fixed in childhood can still be modified in adults with intense retraining
E: concluded that the capacity for new reorganisation is much greater in children then in adults
