brain plasticity AO3

Question 1

strength of brain plasticity - bezzola et al

Answer 1

• brain plasticity may be a life-long ability.
• in general, plasticity reduces with age. however, bezzola et al demonstrated how 40 hours of golf training produced changes in the neural representations of movement in participants aged 40-60.
• using fmri, bezzola observed reduced motor cortex activity in the golfers compared to a control group, suggesting more efficient neural representations after training.
• this shows that neural plasticity can continue throughout life.

Question 2

limitation of brain plasticity - medina et al

Answer 2

• may have negative behavioural consequences
• evidence has shown that the brain’s adaptation to prolonged drug use leads to poorer cognitive functioning in later life as well as increased risk of dementia.
• these findings are from medina et al.
• this suggests that the brain’s ability to adapt to damage is not always beneficial.