Neuroplasticity and Cognition Rehabilitation Flashcards
(22 cards)
Neuroplasticity
New wiring for old jobs
Donald hebb’s research
“Neuron’s fire together wire together”
called engrams.
3 Mechanisms of neural plasticity
Functional plasticity, structural plasticity, neurogenesis
Functional plasticity
Strengthening or weakening synpases.
Modified gene expression and protein synthesis.
Increased or decreased connectivity between distant brain areas.
Reorganization of firing patterns within brain areas
Structural plasticity
Changes in dendritic spine density and morphology.
Axonal sprouting - allows for new connectivity to be established
up or down-regulation of synaptic pruning
Neurogenesis
birth of neurons
The age-dependent nature of plasticity. Rat housing example:
When rats switched from simple to complex housing in infancy, there was a decrease in spine density in cortex
Children with cataracts
Children with cataracts in one eye can have permanent damage to 3d vision due to brain’s reorganizing
Adults who develop cataracts will not have damage to 3d vision because of weaker plasticity
Charles Bonnet syndrome
Adults lose their vision, and neurons begin to fire on their own in the absence of environmentally relevant sensory input
Area-dependent plasticity
Adult rats lose spine density in orbital frontal cortex, but increase in medial prefrontal cortex when given amphetamine
shows that effects are different on different parts of the brain
Somatosensory and motor homunculi
Size of sensory areas are dependent on how much you use those body parts.
Ex. cortical representation for braille readers higher than non-readers
Focal dystonia
Involuntary muscle movements and postures of an overused body part
Cortical are expanding and overlapping, which means that they cannot move certain body parts independently.
Cortical maps after injury
When the person moves their mouth, they may report matching feeling in their hand, even if their hand is no longer there. Due to the two being related previous to the injury
Pharmaceutical interventions that target neuroplasticity
Psychedelics and antidepressants to induce juvenile-like periods of plasticity.
Make cells more receptive to BDNF
BDNF released by active neurons.
Changes are experience dependent, need to take advantage of the temporary incrased neuroplasticity with therapy to have the best treatment effect
Non-pharmaceutical treatments targeting plasticity
rTMS: potential to impact plasticity at several levels
Acts upon BDNF
Patients with depression, addiction, schizophrenia, OCD
ECT would work, but has stigma
Neuropathic pain
Lesion or disease of the somatosensory nervous system.
Pain is caused by nervous system
Central sensitization
CNS becomes hypersensitive to stimuli, typically leading to pain
Allodynia
Pain in response to usually non-painful stimuli
Primary hyperalgesia
Already painful sensations become more painful
Secondary hyperalgesia
Hyperalgesia in areas outside of the original injury
Cognitive rehabilitation therapy
Treatments aimed to improve cognitive functions: compensation, plsaticity and recovery
Training the affected behavious. Menmonics and looking at neglected side to train memory and neglect
Offering external supports: using a notebook to remind to look at neglected side
How does cognitive rehabilitation therapy relate to plasticity?
Retrains the connections in the brain, while creating new connections to allow people to have more functional connections
The wanted behavious to become automatic through the connections in the brain
