Split brain surgery, plasticity and functional recovery after trauma

Question 1

What did Sperry find?

Answer 1

Split-brain patients felt like two brains in one body for a few weeks after their surgery, then the left hemisphere became dominant again

Question 2

What did Schneider think individuals with more education had that allowed them to recover faster?

Answer 2

Cognitive reserve

Question 3

Name three individual factors that affect rehabilitation?

Answer 3

Perseverance, sex and age

Question 4

Explain axon sprouting

Answer 4

Damaging axons results in lost connections to adjoining neurons, but these neighbouring neurons can grow extra connections to compensate and replace the function if the damaged axon and the replacements perform similarly

Question 5

Explain increased brain stimulation

Answer 5

If the undamaged hemisphere is stimulated, recovery from a stroke is possible

Question 6

Explain denervation supersensitivity

Answer 6

Axons that perform similarly to the damaged ones can become aroused to a higher level to compensate

Question 7

Who studied split-brain patients?

Answer 7

Sperry

Question 8

What practical applications does research into brain damage have?

Answer 8

Creating effective rehabilitation programmes

Question 9

Define aphasia

Answer 9

An inability to understand or produce speech due to brain damage

Question 10

Name two types of aphasia

Answer 10

Expressive and receptive