Plasticity and Functional Recovery of Brain after Trauma Flashcards
1
Q
Outline plasticity of brain
A
- Brains ability to change its organisation and structures in response to experience
- One way is through altering or creating new neural pathways
- Information is rehearsed, neural pathway is strengthened (practice improves performance)
- Information is learned, neural pathway is created
- When information isn’t used, neural pathway is weakened and potentially removed.
2
Q
Outline one strength of Plasticity of brain
A
- Supporting evidence
- Studied brains of taxi drivers using MRI
- Found more grey matter in posterior hippocampus (navigational memory) than in the control group of non-taxi drivers
- Experience can change structures of brain
- Adds credibility
3
Q
Outline the limitation of Plasticity of the brain
A
- Difficult to establish cause and effect between experience and differences in brain structure
- Cannot be sure that more grey matter was due to taxi driving.
- Taxi drivers may have already had strong navigational memory due to larger posterior hippocampus thus pursuing career of taxi driving
- Questions credibility
4
Q
Outline final strength of Plasticity of the brain
A
- Correlational evidence
- Found positive correlation between number of years of taxi driving and grey matter volume in posterior hippocampus
- Experience caused larger grey matter
- Adds credibility
5
Q
What is Neural Regeneration
A
- Regrowth or Repair of neurons that have been damaged
6
Q
What is Neurogenesis
A
- Implantation of stem cells causing growth of new neurons
- Stem cells can replicate rapidly to help overcome brain trauma
7
Q
What is Neuronal Unmasking
A
- Dormant synapses receives increasing amount of input
- Synapse typically used is damaged so unmasking dormant synapses opens new connections in brain
8
Q
What is Axonal Sprouting
A
- Undamaged axons can grow new axon terminals
- Connect with undamaged neurons to form new neural pathways
