Recovery Of Brain

Question 1

How do brain recover after trauma

Answer 1

Brain plasticity

Question 2

Plasticity

Answer 2

Brains ability to adapt and change through creation of n neurological pathways and alteration of new ones to adapt to new experiences due to learning

Question 3

What do our experiences cause frequently used nerve pathways to do

Answer 3

Become stronger in their connection

Question 4

What occurs to rarely used nerve pathways

Answer 4

Become weaker and eventually die out

Question 5

Evidence for plasticity

Answer 5

Maguire :
London tax drivers and using MRI scanner found that posterior hippocampi was larger than those of control ppts and that that posterior hippocampal volume positively correlated with the amount time they had spent as a taxi driver, shows brain adapted due to their job

Kemperman et al:
- Evidence brains ability to change as a result of experiences comes from Animals studies
- encircled environment could alter the number of neurons in the brain found increased number of neurons in the hippocampus of rats housed in complex environment’s compared to lab cages suggest hippocampus associated with te formation of new memories

Question 6

2 theories in how functional recovery occurs

Answer 6

• axon sprouting
• activation of dormant synapses (neuronal unmasking)

Question 7

Axon sprouting

Answer 7

Nearby, unmanaged neurons that connect to the same neurons that the damaged neuron did, will sprout new connections to the next neuron to replace synapses that have been lost

Question 8

Activation of dormant synapses

Answer 8

Wall - suggested that their are dormant synapses in the brain, where the rate of neural input is too low for them to be activated, damage to other pathways and loss of active synapses causes these dormant pathways to become active

Question 9

how is recovery possible

Answer 9

Through intensive rehabilitation, due to plasticity ( congestion in brain due to experience) without hard work and actively seeking experiences recovery is unlikely

Question 10

Evidence of functional recovery

Answer 10

Danelli
- lost his left hemisphere due to large benign tumour
- due to this lost his linguistic abilities
- due to rehabilitation language abilities improved around age of 5 and no problem with language after a few years
- concluded right hemisphere compensated following the intensive programme but never blue to fully compensate

Question 11

Factor which influence recovery from brain trauma

Answer 11

Age
Gender
Cognitive reserve

Question 12

Age AO1+AO3

Answer 12

Deterioration of the brain in old age affects the extent and speed of recovery
Marquez de la plata et al - patient over 40 regained less function with treatment than younger patients and they were also more likely to decline in function after 5 years following treatment

Question 13

Gender AO1+AO3

Answer 13

• Mixed finding
• but research (ratcliffe et al) suggest that females show better recovery fro brain trauma than males, perhaps because they have less lateralisation of function

Question 14

Cognitive reserve AO1+AO3

Answer 14

Schneider et al - 700 people followed a programme on rehabilitation following brain trauma, of those who where uni graduates 39% showed full recovery whereas those who left school early 10% full recovery

Researchers suggest that education strengths brains in some way that means they have greater cognitive reserve an show greater plasticity and ability to compensate