Plasticity & Functional Recovery

Question 1

What is Neural Plasticity?

Answer 1

The brain’s ability to change and adapt as a result of new learning and experience

Question 2

What is Functional Recovery?

Answer 2

A form of plasticity that occurs after damage through trauma in which the brain adapts and compensates for the damaged areas

Question 3

What is Synaptic Pruning?

Answer 3

The deleting of unused or unwanted brain connections and the strengthening of necessary ones

Question 4

What process does Plasticity typically involve?

Answer 4

Synaptic Pruning

Question 5

When is Synaptic Pruning most prominent, and what percentage of neural connections does this result in the loss of?

Answer 5

In adolescence, where close to 50% of neural connections are lost in some brain regions

Question 6

What study supports the idea of Neural Plasticity?

Answer 6

Maguire et al’s Taxi Driver Study, who performed MRI scans on 16 experienced male London taxi drivers and compared it to the MRI scans of 50 male non-taxi drivers

Question 7

In what area of the brain did the taxi drivers in Maguire’s Study have significantly more grey matter?

Answer 7

The back hippocampus

Question 8

What did Maguire attribute the changes in brain structure in the taxi driver’s in her study to?

Answer 8

Their excessive learning of city streets and routes as part of their training

Question 9

What did Maguire find in regards to experience and differences in brain structure in her study?

Answer 9

The longer an individual had been a taxi driver, the more pronounced the difference in brain structure was

Question 10

Describe Draganski’s findings regarding Neural Plasticity

Answer 10

• Imaged the brains of medical students 3 months before and after their final exams
• Found changes in the back hippocampus and the parietal cortex

Question 11

How does Functional Recovery occur?

Answer 11

Through the forming of new synaptic connections close to the damaged area, which unmasks secondary neural pathways that are able to take over and perform the task the original pathway was

Question 12

What three structural changes are involved in Functional Recovery?

Answer 12

• Axonal Sprouting
• Denervation Supersensitivity
• Recruitment of Homologous Areas

Question 13

What is Axonal Sprouting?

Answer 13

The growth of new axons which connect of other undamaged ones, forming new neural pathways

Question 14

What is Denervation Supersensitivity?

Answer 14

Axons that perform a similar function are aroused to a higher level to compensate for the damaged ones

Question 15

What is Recruitment of Homologous Areas?

Answer 15

Similar areas on the opposite side of the brain are recruited, allowing specific tasks to still be performed

Question 16

Which study suggests the negative affect that neural plasticity can have?

Answer 16

Medina et al, who found that changes in the brain as a result of prolonged drug use lead to poorer cognitive functioning in later life and an increased risk of dementia

Question 17

What study suggests neural plasticity persists throughout our lifetimes?

Answer 17

Bezzola et al, who performed fMRI scans on the brains of participants aged 40-60 after having had 40 hours of golf training, and found changes in the neural representations of movement allowing them to be more skilled than the control group.

Question 18

Which two case studies supports the idea of Functional Recovery?

Answer 18

• Danelli et al, who studied a boy who had virtually all of his left hemisphere removed as a result of a large benign tumour, and almost fully recovered by the end of late childhood following intensive rehabilitation programmes
• Gabby Gifford, who was a congresswoman shot at point blank range and has made almost a complete recovery

Question 19

Which factor may be a predictor of the extent to which an individual is able to recover from brain damage through trauma, and which study supports this?

Answer 19

How great an individual’s cognitive reserve is: Schneider et al found that individuals who had spent 16+ years in education had a 40% chance of making a fully recovery compared to a 10% chance for those who had spent less than 12 years

Question 20

What field does research into neural plasticity and functional recovery have a practical application to?

Answer 20

Neurorehabilitation, with a greater understanding of the processes involved in plasticity and functional recovery resulting in the development of treatments such as motor therapy and electrical stimulation

Question 21

What issues are there in terms of studying Functional Recovery?

Answer 21

• Often relies on case studies, as its ethically impossible to purposefully give someone brain trauma and then study their recovery