Plasticity / Functional recovery Flashcards
What is plasticity?
This refers to the brains ability to change and adapt because of experience, this is importance in brain development/ behaviour
What did researchers originally believe with plasticity and what does research now suggest?
They originally believed that brain changes only occur in infancy/ childhood, but recent studies suggest the brain continues to create new neural pathways/ alter existing ones when adapting to new experiences due to learning.
What is the process of functional recovery?
Relocating function in areas of damaged brain to other areas that aren’t damaged
What is the Hebbian theory and what does it mean?
Cells that fire together wire together (Donald Hebb), meaning, the more something is practised the stronger the connections become.
What is the 1st example of plasticity that regards juggling, studied by Boyle et al. (2008) ?
Taught juggling to 60 year olds + found their brains adapted in the visual cortex, these changes reversed when they stopped.
What is the 2nd example of plasticity that regards Super Mario, studied by Kuhn et al. (2014) ?
Found that playing Super Mario for 30 mins a day over 2 months, led to significant changes in grey matter in the cortex, hippocampus + cerebellum
What did Kuhn et al. (2014) conclude? (What 4 things did Super Mario contribute to?)
Concluded playing Super Mario established new connections in areas linked to spatial navigation, strategic planning, working memory + motor performance.
What is the 3rd example of Plasticity regarding meditation, studied by Davidson et al. (2004)?
Who did he study and what did he find?
He compared the electrical activity in the brain of monks who are experienced meditators, with novice students. He found that the monks produced more gamma wave activity, that suggests they drastically changed the structure/activity of their brains.
What do other studies find regarding meditation?
It produces changes to the Anterior Cingulate Cortex, which is involved with controlling attention and has been linked to self-control
What is the Taxi-Driver study, What did Maguire et al. (2000) and MRI scans show?
Showed London cab drivers had significantly denser and larger hippocampi, compared to non-taxi drivers.
MRI scans showed the longer they had worked the larger the hippocampi were.
What does the taxi-driver study suggest about plasticity?
Has a larger effect on the brain, and that working hard at something can lead to large brain changes-measurable by brain scans.
What are the affects on a person who has suffered a severe stroke?
They can cause permanent damage, and some people may recover fully their abilities.
What are the three causes of a stroke?
— blockage cutting off blood supply ( most common )
— bleeding in/around brain
— tumour growth cutting blood supply off
What does the FAST pneumonic stand for raised by TV campaign?
Face drooping on one side
Arm not moving
Speech problems
Time — it’s important to access help quickly.
In the 1960s, what did researchers find regarding stroke recovery?
They found stroke victim could regain function of abilities after a stroke— certain damaged brain parts can relocate their functions to healthier parts.
The more effort a patient shows in recovering these functions, the better the outcome
What is neural unmasking, a mechanism of plasticity?
This is when dormant synapses (previously unused) become used to help regain lost functions + develop new structures/ functions.
Who was the first to report on neural unmasking in 1977?
Wall
What is the process to Neural Unmasking ?
-if two neurons AB had a connection A-B + this were damaged, if a dormant connection existed to a different neuron (C) over time A would strengthen the connection to C and C would strengthen its gap to B.
What does Hebbs theory state about neural unmasking?
States that this dormant connection will get stronger over time + eventually some/all of the original function can be gained by the new connection A-C-B, this is a slow process.
What is the second process, Axonal Sprouting, which is a mechanism to functional recovery?
There is evidence cells that are next to a lesion sprout extra axons to help make new connection recover from damage.
What did Deller et al. (2006) find axon sprouting can help explain and what was the issue he suggested?
Found it could help explain some of the recovery of lost function, the sprouting stays within a small area of the original cell/ layer of the cortex.
He proposed the issue that it may contribute to epilepsy.
What did Tajiri et al. (2013) study regarding inserting stem cells and what did they find from this? What does this suggest?
Find when they implanted stem cells into the injured brain of a rat, the stem cells migrated towards the injury and started to turn into new neurons, suggesting stem cells can treat brain damage in brains.
What did Schneider et al. (2014) find regarding functional recovery and what did they conclude from this?
Find those individuals with higher levels of education were more likely to be able to regain abilities through functional recovery.
Concluded ‘cognitive reserve’ built up through education allows brain to adapt better during injury.
What is the case study regarding Jody Miller and what does this support
Jody miller suffered severe epilepsy and the damaged hemisphere was removed at age 3, she was able to recover most physical/ cognitive abilities.
This supports neural plasticity.
What is the case study regarding Sarah Scott and what 3 concepts does this support?
Sarah Scott suffered a stroke as an Alevel student damaging her Broca’s area. She uploaded YouTube videos that tracked her progress and over 7 years, she has recovered most of the lost functions.
Supports Broca’s area existence, localisation of function and plasticity.
