brain plasticity & functional recovery

• Brain plasticity


  The brain's tendency to change & adapt as a result of new learning
• Positive functional & structural changes

  Maguire: Taxi cab driver study, MRI showed taxi drivers have a larger hippocampus so they're able to remember more information about how to get around London
• Negative functional & structural changes

  Pornography: Excess watching of pornography leads to removal of dopamine receptors, results in inability to get sexually aroused during 'normal' sexual activity. Neglect: childhood neglect results in a shrinking hippocampus, results in learning & behaviour problems & difficulty with impulse
• Functional recovery of the brain


  A form of plasticity, the brain's ability to redistribute/transfer functions usually performed by a damaged area to other undamaged area
• Axonal sprouting


  Growth of new synaptic connections to make new neuronal pathways- help to connect with undamaged areas
• Reformation of blood vessels


  Helps to restore blood supply & oxygen to damaged areas
• Neuronal unmasking


  Dormant synapses spring into life allowing new connections to be made
• Recruitment of similar areas of the other hemisphere


  An undamaged area of the brain takes over the functions of an damaged area
• Sex affecting recovery of the brain after trauma

  Research suggests that women recover better from brain injury as their brain function is not lateralised. However, as research is conducted on ppts post brain injury it is difficult to know what their performance was on the tasks was like pre-injury which means the study could've been confounded by ppt differences.
• Level of education affecting recovery of the brain after trauma


  Having a more active, neurologically well connected brain is positively correlated with speed of recovery from the traumatic brain injuries. Schneider found ppts with a college education were 7x more likely than those who didn't finish college to recover from their disability after 1 year.
• Brain plasticity


  Ability for greater re-organisation in childhood
• Jodie Miller: 'Brain is most plastic & has ability for greater re-organisation in childhood'
• Neural plasticity continues throughout life
• Neural plasticity


  • Shown by fMRI scanning
  • Continues throughout life
• Golf training study

  1. 40 hours of training

  2. Increased neural representation of movement in motor cortex

  3. In middle-aged participants
• Bezzola et al used fMRI scans to show increased neural representation of movement in areas of the motor cortex in middle-aged participants after 40 hours of golf training
• Video game training study

  1. 60 year old played custom designed video games for 12 hours over a month

  2. Improved multi-tasking abilities to levels better than 20 year olds playing the game for the first time

  3. Retained improvements 6 months later
• Gazzaley: 60 year old who played custom designed video games for 12 hours over a month improved their multi-tasking abilities to levels better than those achieved by 20 year olds playing the game for the first time, and retained those improvements 6 months later
• Perseverance affecting recovery of the brain after trauma

  A person needs to have a lot of perseverance during the rehabilitation stage as recovery is very slow. Part of recovery would be due to will power & motivation. It is physically exhausting to go through brain functioning rehabilitation, doing a simple task can feel like walking through deep mud. Alcohol consumption = negative impact.
• Practical application of recovery of the brain after trauma


  The development of neuro-rehabilitation. Functional recovery provides support for neural plasticity, this process can occur quickly after trauma & then slow down after several weeks/months. At this point, a person would need further rehabilitation, with help the brain has the ability to fix itself to a point. Techniques include: Movement therapy, Mirror therapy, Electrical stimulation of the brain