Week 3 Flashcards
(18 cards)
What is neuroplasticity?
The ability of neurons to change their function, chemical profile and/or structure
What is habituation?
A type of neuroplasticity where the brain decreases its response to a repeated stimuli
What is long term potentiation?
A process where synapses (connections between neurons) strengthen over time due to repeated activation
What is long term depression?
Neural pathways that are rarely or never activated, become weaker
What is cortical remapping?
The brain’s ability to reorganize its neural connections and functions in response to changes in sensory input or injury
What is the negative effect of neuroplasticity?
Learned non-use – weakening of a pathway through failure to activate that pathway
What is motor learning?
The acquisition of motor skills or the reacquisition of motor skills
What are the stages of learning?
- Cognitive
- Associative
- Autonomous
What is motor imagery?
The mental rehearsal of a physical skill in the absence of overt physical movements
Can neurons regenerate after injury?
Not in the CNS as if neurons are damaged this results in cell death
BUT
In the PNS neural regeneration can occur as long as the cell body is uninjured, neurons can regenerate if the injury is just to the axon
What are the principles of experience dependant neuro plasticity?
- Use it or lose it
- Use it and improve it
- Specificity
- Repetition matters
- Time matters
- Intensity matters
- Age matters
- Transference
- Salience matters (meaningful)
What occurs during wallerian degeneration?
- The axon terminal degenerates (myelin breaks down and forms debris) and the cell body undergoes metabolic changes
- The presynaptic terminals retract and the post synaptic cells (in this case a muscle fiber) degenerates
- More effective in the PNS
What is neuroimaging?
Different imaging methods use different technology and provide different types of images
What are X-rays use for?
Bone fractures; infections; joints (e.g. arthritis)
Computed tomography (CT scan)
Brain structure
what are MRI’s used for?
Use MRI for tumors, inflammation, MS
What is diffusion tensor imaging used for?
Assessment of white matter/tracts/pathways
- effect of stroke
What are cerebral angiography used for?
Primarily used to assess blood vessel abnormalities
