brain plasticity

• brain plasticity describes the brain's tendency to change and develop throughout life
• During infancy the brain experiences a paired growth in synaptic transmission
• rarely used connections are delated and frequently used connections are strengthened
• Eleanor Maguire studied the brain of London taxi drivers and found significant grey matter in their hippocampus than in the matched control groups.
• why did the taxi drivers have more grey matter in Maguire's research?

  taxi drivers must take a complex test called 'the knowledge' altering the structure of their brain
• Draganski et al imaged the brains of medical students 3 months before and their final exam. learning-induced changes were seen in the hippocampus
• following injury unaffected areas of the brain can take over the functions of the damaged area
• how might someone further their recovery after a stroke/injury?

  Rehabilitation therapy
• the brain is able to reorganise itself by forming new synaptic transitions close to the area that is damaged
• Axonal sprouting

  the growth if new nerve endings which connect with other undamaged nerve cells to form new neuronal pathways
• recruitment of homologous

  areas on the opposite sides of the brain to perform certain tasks
• structural changes to the brain that support functional recovery

  1. Axonal sprouting
  2. Reformation of blood vessels
  3. Recruitment of homologous
• how does the research into brain plasticity have practical application?

  contributed to the field of neuron-rehabilitation including movement therapy and electrical stimulation the brain to counter the defict in motor and cognitive functioning.
• how is the brain plasticity supported buy animal studies?

  David and Wiesel involved sewing one eye of a kitten shut and analysing the brain's cortical responses. Found that the area of the visual cortex associated with the shut eye was not idle but continued to process information from the open eye