brain plasticity and recovery

• S: Maguires: MRI of 16 male taxi drivers compared to MRI of 16 matched (age,gender) non taxi driver controls, the posterior hippocampi in the London taxi drivers were found to be significantly larger than the controls, suggesting the physical structure of the brain is plastic, able to reconfigure itself to better adapt to psychological needs
• S: research on individuals recovering lost function can help psychologists understand more about the functions of regions of the brain that were initially damaged
• L: Mathias: metanalysis demonstrated not everyone has high levels of plasticity, finding IQ and educational background are positively correlated w/ better outcomes after traumatic brain injury, suggesting some people have a greater cognitive reserve helping in recovery and some people will struggle to regain function