Brain Plasticity and Functional Recovery (Biopsychology) Flashcards
(10 cards)
What is brain placisity
The brains ability to adapt and change through experience
Rarely used connections are deleted
What is synaptic pruning
Frequently used connections are strengthened
Who did the taxi study
Maguire
What was Maguire’s method
Used MRI scanner on London taxi drivers and a control group to test the amount of grey matter in their brain
What was Maguire’s findings
The hippocampus of taxi drivers was bigger - supports the idea that regularly used connections are strengthened
What is functional recovery
The brains ability to transfer or redistribute functions to healthy undamaged parts of the brain
What is neural unmasking
A secondary neural pathway that would not normally carry out certain functions is activated/unmasked to carry on the process
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
When axons that do a similar job become aroused to higher level to compensate for the ones that are lost
- can be negative consequence of oversensitivity to messages such as pain
What is recruitment of homologous areas
When one side of brain is damaged - opposite side of brain that is similar takes over
