Plasticity & Functional Recovery Of The Brain After Trauma Flashcards
What is plasticity?
The brains tendency to change or adapt, functionally and physically because of new learning and experience - involving the growth of new connections
What are connections?
New experiences, means that the nerve pathways are used frequently, developing stronger connections
What is synaptic pruning?
Neurons that are rarely used or never used eventually die/get deleted
What are the supporting evidence studies for plasticity?
Boyke et al (2008) & Maguire et al (2000)
What did Boyke (2008) find?
He evidence of brain plasticity in 60 year olds that were taught a new skill - juggling. An increase of grey matter in the visual cortex, although when practiced stopped, these changes reversed
What did Maguire (2000) find?
16 male taxi drivers and 50 non taxi drivers were studied to check the volume of grey matter - they found that the taxi drivers posterior hippocampus was significantly larger compared to the non drivers (associated with spatial & navigation skills
What are the evaluation points for Maguire (2000)?
+ MRI scans - empirical
- Low population validity - 16 male taxi drivers
- Correlational - no cause or effect
+ Age and plasticity - Ladina Bezzola et al (2012)
What is functional recovery?
A form of plasticity following damage through trauma, the brain can redistribute or transfer functions usually performed by damaged areas to undamaged areas
What is the physical injury used to display functional recovery?
A stroke
What happens to the brain during recovery?
The brain can rewire and reorganise itself by forming new synaptic connections close to the area of the damage
What are the 3 structural changes in the brain that support this process?
- Axonal sprouting
- Denervation supersensitivity
- Recruitment of homologous areas on the opposite side of the brain
What is axonal sprouting?
The growth of new nerve endings which connect with other undamaged nerve cells to form new neuronal pathways
What is denervation supersensitivity?
Axons that do a similar job become aroused to a high er degree to compensate for lost ones - however this can cause over sensitivity to messages relating to pain
What is recruitment of homologous areas?
Recruitment of similar areas on the opposite side of the brain happens so that specific tasks can still be performed
What is the study for functional recovery?
Danelli et al (2013)
What did Danelli (2013) study?
Examined a patient called EB who had his left hemisphere removed due to a tumour, at the time his linguistic abilites disappeared. After long rehab, by 5 his language abilities improved and was tested again at 17, Danelli found that his RH compensated for the loss of the left hemisphere - there were some minor grammatical errors and lack of speed - but generally he was functioning well
What are the evaluation points for Danelli (2013)?
+ Supporting evidence - EB
- Low population validity - 1 case study
- Case study - unrepresentative
