✓ Plasticity & Functional Recovery (AO1)

Question 1

What is Plasticity in the Brain?

Answer 1

the brain’s tendency to change & adapt (functionally & physically) as a result of new experiences & new learning

Question 2

How does our brain change as we age due to plasticity?

Answer 2

as we age, rarely used connections in the brain are deleted & frequently used connections are strengthened in a process known as synaptic pruning

Question 3

What research supports plasticity in the adult brain?
(adult brains change as well)

Answer 3

Maguire et al
- study of taxi drivers learning ‘the knowledge’ = increased volume of grey matter in the hippocampus
+
Draganski et al
- study of medical students = brain scan 3 months prior & then after their final exams showed structural changes in the posterior hippocampus & parietal cortex

Question 4

How does plasticity work in the infant brain?

Answer 4

during infancy the brain experiences a rapid growth in the no. of synaptic connections it has, peaking at abt 15,000 at age 2-3 yrs
this is nearly double the connections that are in the adult brain
as we age rarely used connections are deleted & frequently used connections are strengthened = synaptic pruning

Question 5

What research supports plasticity in the infant brain?

Answer 5

Villablanca & Hovda found that in cases of a baby being born with 1 hemisphere damaged that if the whole hemisphere was removed after birth, as an adult that person would show few behavioural or cognitive impairments

Question 6

What is Functional Recovery?

Answer 6

following an injury or stroke, unaffected areas of the brain are often able to adapt & compensate for the areas that are damaged

• this process occurs quickly after an injury (spontaneous recovery) & then slows down

Question 7

What are the 3 Methods of functional recovery?

Answer 7

Axonal Sprouting
Denervation Supersensitivity
Recruitment of Homologous

Question 8

What is Axonal Sprouting?

Answer 8

the growth of new nerve endings which connect with other undamaged nerve cells to form new pathways

Question 9

What is Denervation Supersensitivity?

Answer 9

axons that do a similar job become more aroused to compensate
BUT this can be a negative e.g. oversensitivity to messages such as pain

Question 10

What is Axonal Sprouting?

Answer 10

areas in the other hemisphere of the brain that isn’t damaged, works harder