Plasticity AO1

• •Brain has the ability to change throughout life

  •In infancy brain experiences a rapid growth in number of synaptic connections approximately 15,000 at 2-3 years (Gopnik et al)

  •Twice as many as there are in the adult brain
• Plasticity?


  This describes the brain’s tendency to change and adapt as a result of experience and new learning
• Brain plasticity

  •As we age, rarely used connections are deleted & frequently used connections are strengthened – synaptic pruning

  •Originally thought changes were restricted to the developing brain in childhood

  •Recent research suggests that at any time in life existing neural connections can change or new neural connections can be formed due to learning & experience plasticity
• Maguire et al

  •Studied brains of London taxi drivers

  •Found significantly more volume of grey matter in posterior hippocampus than in matched control

  •This part of brain associated with development of spatial & navigational skills

  •Part of the training of London cabbies involves a complex test called the knowledge, which assesses their recall of city streets & possible routes

  •Result of this learning experience alters structure of cabbies brains

  •Longer they had been in the job the more pronounced the structural difference (positive correlation)
• Draganski et al

  •Imaged brains of medical students 3 months before & after exams

  •Learning induced changes were seen to have occurred in posterior hippocampus & parietal cortex presumably as a result of the exam

  •How does this link to plasticity?
• Research with gaming

  •Compared a control group with a video game training group that was trained for two months for at least 30 minutes per day on the game Super Mario.

  •They found a significant increase in grey matter in various brain areas

  •This increase was not evident in the control group

  •video game training had resulted in new synaptic connections in brain areas involved in spatial navigation, strategic planning, working memory and motor performance – all skills that were important in playing the game successfully.
• Functional recovery?


  This is a form of plasticity. Following damage through trauma e.g. stroke, the brain’s ability to redistribute or transfer information usually performed by damaged/destroyed/missing area(s) to other undamaged area(s)
• Functional recovery

  •Following physical injury or trauma, unaffected areas of the brain are often able to adapt & compensate for those areas that are damaged

  •is another example of neural plasticity

  •Healthy brain areas may take over functions of damaged or missing areas

  •Neuroscientists suggest this process can occur quickly after trauma (spontaneous recovery) & then slow down after several weeks or months
• What happens during recovery?

  •Brain able to rewire and reorganise itself by forming new synaptic connections close to area of damage

  •Secondary neural pathways that would not typically be used to carry out certain functions are activated to enable functioning to continue – often same way as before (Doidge)
• Structural changes during functional recovery

  -Axonal sprouting – Growth of new nerve endings which connect with other nerve cells to form new neuronal pathways

  -Reformation of blood vessels

  -Recruitment of homologous areas on opposite side of the brain to perform similar tasks E.g. if Broca’s area damaged on left side of brain, right side would carry out its functions (after some time functionality may shift back to left side)