Plasticity and functional recovery

• Brain plasticity refers to the brain's ability to change and adapt because of an experience.
• Research has demonstrated that the brain continues to create new neural pathways and alter

  existing ones in response to new experiences.
• Maguire et al - A study of taxi drivers’ brains


  MRI scans from 16 male London taxi drivers were compared with a control group. All taxi drivers

  had been working for at least 18 months. Maguire found that the average size of the right

  posterior hippocampus was significantly larger in the taxi driver group compared to the control

  group
• Maguire et al - A study of taxi drivers’ brains


  In addition the increased size was relative to the amount of time the taxi driver had been

  working i.e. the longer they’d been working, the larger their right posterior hippocampus.
• He concluded that because the brains of the taxi drivers had physically changed, it suggests

  that the hippocampus is responsible for storing spatial memori
• However, research investigating the plasticity of the brain is flawed. E.g maguire did not test

  taxi drivers' brains before they became taxi drivers, so a clear change in structures of the brain

  due to their experiences can not be concluded
• Khun et al found a significant increase in grey matter in various regions of the brain after

  participants played video games for 30 mins every day for 2 months. Suggesting that the actual

  structure of the brain has changed in response to learning how to play a video game
• Functional recovery-

  The brain also appears to show evidence of functional recovery. This is the transfer of functions

  from a damaged area of the brain after trauma to undamaged areas
• Neural unmaski ng this

  is where dormant synapses open up connections to compensate for a nearby damaged area of the brain. This allows new connections in the brain to be activated, thus recovering any damage occurring in other specific regions
• Stem cells-

  It Is also used to recover brain functions. These are unspecialised cells that can take on the

  characteristics of nerve cells allowing the brain to create new neural pathways and recover any

  damage to existing cells.
• There is research to support the claim for functional recovery.

  E.g Taijiri et al found that stem cells provided to rats after brain trauma showed a clear

  development of neuron-like cells in the area of injury. This demonstrates the ability of the brain

  to create new connections using neurons manufactured by stem cells
• While there is evidence for functional recovery, it is possible that this ability can deteriorate with age

  Elbert et al concluded that the capacity for neural reorganisation is much greater in children

  than in adults, meaning functional recovery is less effective in older brains.

  This may be why adults find change more demanding than young people do.

  I.e we must consider individual differences amongst people when assessing the likelihood of

  functional recovery after trauma.