plasticity and functional recovery of the brain after trauma Flashcards

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1
Q

At what period is brain growth the most rapid and the most connections made?

A

in infancy

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2
Q

when in the peak of brain connections?

A

age 2-3 years old

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3
Q

what happens to connections as we age?

A

there is synaptic pruning in which rarely used connections are deleted and frequently used ones are strengthened

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4
Q

what is plasticity?

A

at and time neural connections can change and new ones can be formed due to learning and experience

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5
Q

Who conducted the London taxi driver (LTD) study?

A

Maguire et al

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6
Q

how many ppts were there in the LTD study?

A

16 taxi drivers, and 50 in the control group

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7
Q

what was the shared characteristic between the control and the drivers?

A

all right-handed, male no brain problems

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8
Q

what investigative technique did the LTD study use?

A

MRI and self-report

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9
Q

What did the LTD comparison find?

A

the taxi drivers had a significantly larger posterior hippocampus (associated with navigation and spatial awareness) and a smaller anterior hippocampus

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10
Q

What did the LTD correlation find?

A

there was a strong positive correlation between years as a taxi drive and volume of their posterior hippocampus

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11
Q

What are the criticisms of the LTD study?

A

beta bias, small ppt numbers, cannot establish cause and effect (cannot know if hippocampus size was smaller before the knowledge)

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12
Q

What are the strengths of the LTD study?

A

reliable, good control, standard procedure

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13
Q

what was Draganski et al’s study and what were their findings?

A

they scanned the posterior hippocampus and parietal cortex of med student 3 months before and after final exams and found learning-induced changes as a result of exams

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14
Q

what was Michelli et al’s study and what were their findings?

A

they found a larger parietal cortex in bilingual people compared to monolingual people

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15
Q

What is functional recovery?

A

after a physical injury to the brain unaffected areas of the brain are often able to adapt and compensate for the damaged area

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16
Q

what is spontaneous recovery?

A

when functional recovery happens quickly after trauma then slows down over months and years where physical therapy such as electrical stimulation and movement therapy may be needed

17
Q

how does the brain reorganise itself?

A

by forming new neural connections close to the area of damage, secondary less frequently used connections are strengthened, axonal sprouting( the growth of new neurone endings), reformation of blood vessels, recruitment of homologous areas on the opposite side of the brain

18
Q

what are the practical applications of plasticity?

A

contribution to the field of neurorehabilitation

19
Q

describe Hubel and Wiesel’s animal study

A

they sowed a kittens eye shut and analysed the brains cortical responses, they found areas of the visual cortex associated with the shut-eye continue to process information from the open eye.

20
Q

What is the cognitive reserve?

A

evidence suggests a person’s educational attainment may influence how their brain recovers after injury

21
Q

what are the results of Schnider’s study into cognitive reserves?

A

he found of those who had disability-free recovery 40% had 16 or more years in education whereas 10% who recovered had less than 12 years education

22
Q

how does plasticity work negatively with drug use?

A

prolonged exposure to drugs causes poorer cognitive functions and a higher risk of dementia

23
Q

how does plasticity work negatively for amputees?

A

phantom limb syndrome- 60-80% of amputees continue to experience sensations in missing limbs due to the reorganisation of the somatosensory area

24
Q

describe Bezzola et al’s study

A

after 40 hours of golf training in ppts aged 40-60 years old, FMRIs showed less brain activity in the motor area compared to the control group suggesting more efficient neural connections