Brain Plasticity and Functional recovery AO3

• +Case study (Jodi Miller)

  Entire left hemisphere was removed in an attempt to control her epileptic seizures. However, she was still able to control the right side of her body through the use of cerebral spinal fluid. Jodi Miller showed the power of recruiting homologous areas on the opposite side of the brain.

  This supports the idea of functional recovery and shows the positive effects of neuroplasticity.

  Counter,

  It’s a case study, therefore there is a lack of control over confound and extraneous variables + unusual sample + can’t generalise = low population validity
• +level of education increases the rate of functional recovery (Schnieder)

  769 patients, 214 achieved disability free recovery = Schneider found that 75% of patients who achieved DFR had at least 12 years of education. This shows strong positive correlation between level of education and functional recovery = education = a preventative for FR.

  Shows importance and wider benefits of education.

  It's only a correlation = can't conclude a cause and effect variable = lowers the validity as there can be many extraneous variables effecting the results which weaken this strength of functional recovery.
• • individual difference (age)

  Functional recovery only works until a certain point. FR does not work as well for older patients and therefore limits the effectiveness of functional recovery. It also means that we can’t rely on FR after trauma to reinstate normal function.