Brain plasticity and functional recovery

• Plasticity

  Brain's ability to change and adapt due to experience and learning
• Brain plasticity


  • Growth of new connections
  • Rapid gain in number of synaptic connections
  • Synaptic pruning as we age, unused synaptic connections are deleted
  • Frequently used connections are strengthened
  • Enables lifelong plasticity - new neural connections formed
• Maguire et al. (2000) study


  • Studied brains of London taxi drivers
  • Found significantly more volume of grey matter in posterior hippocampus than matched control group
  • Associated with development of spatial and navigational skills
  • In training, cabbies must take a complex task to assess and recall streets and routes
• This learning experience alters the structure of taxi drivers' brains
• Functional recovery


  • Brain's ability to adapt and compensate for damaged areas after an injury
  • Healthy brain areas take over functions
  • Brain able to rewire and reorganize by forming new synaptic connections
  • Secondary neural pathways are activated to ensure functioning continues
• Forms of functional recovery


  • Axonal sprouting - growth of new nerve endings to form new neural pathways
  • Denervation supersensitivity - axons become aroused to higher energy levels to compensate for those lost
  • Recruitment of homologous areas on opposite side of brain for specific tasks