Plasticity and Functional Recovery

• A strength of plasticity and functional recovery research is its practical application.
• For example, understanding processes involved in plasticity has contributed to the field of neurorehabilitation.
• Techniques include movement therapy and electrical stimulation of the brain, which counters deficits to cognitive functioning after a stroke.
• This strengthens both the applicability and support for plasticity and functional recovery research as it shows that although the brain may have the capacity to 'fix itself' to a point, the process still requires further intervention to be successful.
• Another strength of plasticity and functional recovery research is further support from animal studies.
• For example, Hubel and Wiesel sewed one eye of a kitten shut and analysed the brain's cortical responses.
• The area of the visual cortex associated with the shut eye wasn't idle, but it continued to process information from the open eyes.
• This strengthens both the internal validity and support for plasticity and functional recovery research as the study demonstrates how loss of function leads to compensatory activity in the brain.
• A limitation of plasticity and functional recovery research is that animal research lacks generalisability.
• For example, humans possess a cerebral cortex, animals do not.
• This means that we are therefore more socially and emotionally complex than animals.
• This weakens both the population validity and support for plasticity and functional recovery research given that the findings from Hubel and Wiesel's kitten experiment can't be generalised to humans.