brain plasticity

• Emotional development


  Refer to change in regulation and understanding emotions
• adaptive plasticity


  The ability of neural connections in the brain to recognize in response to learning new info, or to compensate for lost functions and take advantage of remaining functions.
• Stages of plasticity in infancy

  • Prefiltration
  • Migration
  • Circuit formation
  • Synaptic pruning
  • Myelination
• Prefiltration


  The growth and division of cells, including neurons, that leads to the increase in the total cell number
• Migration


  Newly generated neurons move throughout the brain until reaching their final position; this position allows for connection between neurons (neural circuits) to be made.
• Circuit formation


  Neurons are able to form neural circuits (neural connections) whereby neurons send electrochemical messages between each other
• Synaptic pruning


  As infants are born with more neurons than required, neurons that do not form active neural connections die, those that have strengthen.

  • weak or unused synapses that not useful 'pruned out' to leave space for new connections
  • synapses that are used more = strengthened
  • helps our brain become more plastic + adaptable
• Myelination


  Fatty substance called myelin starts growing over the axons of neurons, insulating neural connections, and allowing for faster and more efficient nerve impulse travel throughout the brain
• Adolescence is a period where people are more impulsive and unpredictable
• Effects of changes in brain structures on behavior and emotions


  • Cerebellum
  • Corpus Callosum
  • Amygdala
  • Frontal Lobe
  • Pre-frontal cortex
• Cerebellum


  Grow in volume, activity is linked to decision making, reward learning, motivation, emotional control & processing mood. Underdeveloped cerebellum: impulsive + difficulty regulation emotional
• Corpus Callosum


  Thickness increases during adolescence through the process of myelination, neural networks strengthen, stronger connections between two hemispheres (behavior + emotional regulation continue improve)
• Amygdala


  Collection of nuclei deep within each temporal lobe, plays a role in emotional response (including motivation of fear), grows in volume, volatile amygdala guides automatic actions rather than using rational + logical thinking from the pre-front cortex, more likely to misinterpret emotions + social cues
• Frontal Lobe


  Evaluate emotions + use of rational thinking when referring to past experience before responding in a conscious manner
• Pre-frontal cortex

  In the frontal lobe, helps with higher-order processes like decision-making, planning and problem solving.

  • contains the motor cortex, helps control movement and areas that produce speech and language
  • the last part of the brain to fully mature
  • doesn't completely develop until adulthood
  • synapse creation: the growth of synapses in the frontal lobe develops rapidly in childhood
• Accommodation


  The modification of existing mental patterns to fit new demands (that is, mental schemes are changed to accommodate new information or experiences) OR creating new schema when integration is not possible.
• Equilibrium


  The state experienced when existing schema, can account for new information.
• Disequilibrium


  The state experienced when existing schema are unable to account for new information
• plasticity: the brain's ability to change and adapt to new experiences
• deprivation: Deprivation involves an environment that lacks brain stimulation 
• enrichment: involves an environment that provides social and physical brain stimulation