brain plasticity

• Functional recovery is when a function is regained after brain damage, because it is transferred from the damaged brain region to an undamaged brain region.
• The first mechanism used by the brain to enable functional recovery is synapse strengthening, which is when the likelihood of nerve impulses being transmitted between two neurons increases
• After brain damage, synapse strengthening occurs, meaning that synapses are strengthened in brain regions near the damaged region.
• The second mechanism used by the brain to enable functional recovery is rewiring, which is when new neuron connections are formed between two neurons that aren’t already connected.
• Rewiring causes axons from a brain region that used to communicate with the damaged region to extend and form new neural connections with nearby regions.
• A silent synapse is a synapse that becomes inactive due to a lack of nerve impulses.
• Neuronal unmasking occurs when silent synapses become active after a period of being inactive.
• Brain plasticity refers to the brain’s ability to change and adapt in response to new experiences, including brain damage.
• Neuronal unmasking is when silent synapses become active and so reveal hidden neuronal connections between brain regions. These hidden connections reactivate to help our brain to change and adapt to new experiences, which contributes to learning.
• Maguire 2000 conducted a quasi experiment comparing the brains of London taxi drivers to non-taxi drivers. Maguire took images brains in an MRI scanner to investigate brain plasticity. Maguire found a positive correlation that as time spent as a taxi driver increased, the size of a participants hippocampus also increased and concluded that the experience of being a taxi driver led to changes in the brain, like rewiring as taxi drivers have an increased brain volume in the hippocampus.
• No random allocation in Maguire's study. Quasi experiment meaning that participants couldn't be assigned to the experimental group or control group, they already belonged to one of the groups. This is problematic as there was lack of control over participant variables
• Couldn't establish cause and effect relationship. Maguire's study was a quasi experiment, so the IV couldn't be directly manipulated as it was a personal characteristic of participants. This is problematic as it's difficult to determine whether the large hippocampus was the result of being a taxi driver
• Supporting evidence for brain plasticity. Kuhn conducted a lab experiment, comparing the brain plasticity of gamers, who played 30 minutes a day for 2 months to non-gamers. Kuhn found that learning is accompanied by plastic changes in the brain, like rewiring as the experimental group had increased brain volume in certain regions compared to the control group. Positive as it demonstrates the concept of brain plasticity.
• A limiting factor in the extent of brain plasticity is age. Elbert et al tested how different groups of people’s brains change when learning by scanning people’s brains before and after they finished the task he set them. Elbert found children’s brains are more plastic than adult brains.