Plasticity & Functional Recovery of the Brain Flashcards
What is neuroplasticity?
The brain’s ability to adapt to change, be that from injury, damage due to illness or changes brought about die to learning and experince
What is structural plasticity?
Changes within brain structures
What is an example of structural plasticity?
Increased grey matter build-up in the posterior hippocampus due to learning experiences over time
Who did Maguire use as participants in his study on structural plasticity?
16 right-handed male London taxi drivers who had been driving for more than 1.5 years
Who took part in the control group?
50 healthy right-handed males who did not drive taxis
What were the findings of the taxi drivers?
Increased grey matter was found in the brains compared with controls in the right and left hippocampi. The increased volume was found in the posterior hippocampus.
What correlation was identified in the findings?
A positive correlation between the amount of time spent as a taxi driver and volume in the right posterior hippocampus
What are some strengths of Maguire’s study?
Scientific = The study used a highly controlled clinical method of obtaining objective data which could then be easily compared and analysed
Validity = The study used a researcher who was blind to the conditions to count the pixels on the MRI images which increases the internal validity of the study
What are some limitations of Maguire’s study?
Cause-and-effect = The study is correlational, meaning it is impossible to know whether the taxi drivers already had naturally high levels of hippocampal grey matter
Generalisability = The results of the study can only be generalised to male, right-handed, London taxi drivers
What is functional plasticity?
The brain’s ability to replace lost or damaged functions by using existing brain regions in their place
What is synaptic pruning?
Where synapses that are not used frequently are ‘cleared out’, to make the brain more efficient, both structurally and functionally.
What type of study did Danelli carry out?
Case study of EB
What happened to EB?
At 2, he had a hemispherectomy on the left side of his brain to remove a tumour, in which his language centres were removed including Broca’s and Wernicke’s areas. Immediately after surgery, he lost all language function.
What happened 2 years after EB’s surgery?
He recovered his language ability, even without his left hemisphere
What did fMRI scans shown about EB’s brain?
The right hemisphere was acting as if it was the left hemisphere in terms of language function.
What conclusions were made about functional recovery based on EB?
The brain can adapt and change after trauma. If the recovering takes place early in life the affected person has a chance of almost full recovery.
What is a strength of EB’s study?
Applications = Understanding the brain’s capacity to compensate for loss and being aware of the slowing-down phase of functional recovery are key to informing therapy for patients with brain damage.
What are some limitations of EB’s study?
Not 100% appliable = HM never recovered any functionality after his hippocampus was removed
Cause-and-effect = All research into this field is purely correlational, meaning cause-and-effect cannot be established
