Plasticity/functional recovery Flashcards
What is plasticity?
brains changes and adapts in result of experience and learning
What is functional recovery?
brains ability to redistribute functions usually performed by damaged area to undamaged areas
What did Gopnick et al say about during infancy?
that the brain experiences rapid change and growth in a number of synaptic connections, peaking at 15,000 approx at age 2-3
What is synaptic pruning?
as we age, rarely used connections are deleted and those frequently used are strengthened
What did Maguire et al study?
brains of London Taxi drivers?
What did Maguire et al find?
more volume of grey matter in the posterior hippocampus than in matched control group
What did participants in Maguire et al’s study have to do?
they completed ‘the knowledge’ which assessed their ability to navigate streets including all possible routes
What did Draganski et al image?
brains of medical students 3 months before exams and then after their final exam
What did Draganski et al find?
structural changes occurred in the posterior hippocampus and parietal cortex
What did Mechelli et al find?
a large parietal cortex in the brains of people who were bilingual compared to matched monolingual controls
What do physical injuries/traumas show us?
that unaffected areas are able to adapt and compensate
What might healthy brain areas take over?
the functions of those which are not healthy - occurs quickly after trauma
What happens in brain injury recovery?
the brain is able to rewire and reorganise itself by forming new synaptic connections close to the damaged area
What is axonal sprouting?
the growth of the nerve endings which connect with the other unmanaged nerve cells to form new neuronal pathways
Reformation of blood vessels?
recruitment of homologous areas on the opposite side of the brain to perform specific tasks
