functional recovery of the brain

• what is functional recovery?

  The process of regaining abilities or skills that were lost or impaired due to injury or illness but in another part of the brain.
• how does functional recovery work?

  the brain is able to rewire and reorganise itself by forming new synaptic connections close to the area of the damage
• what are the three ways of functional recovery?

  -axonal sprouting

  -neuronal unmasking

  -recruitment of homologous areas on the opposite side of the brain to perform specific tasks
• what is axonal sprouting?

  the growth of new nerve endings which connect with other undamaged nerve cells to form new neuronal pathways
• what is neuronal unmasking?

  this is when synaptic connections already exist anatomically but their function is blocked. in time this gives way to the development of new structures
• what is recruitment of homologous (similar) areas?

  Recruitment of homologous areas is the process by which corresponding brain regions in the opposite hemisphere would activate during a task or activity when the original side is impaired.
• evidence for recovery from trauma (functional recovery)

  age differences in recovery: it is much greater in childhood than it is in adulthood. adults are still able to recover but it may take a lot longer or come to a halt after some recovery. Ballantyne et al (2008) found there us more plasticity for recovery after a stroke in infancy or chidhood than in adulthood.
• evidence for recovery from trauma (functional recovery)

  educational attainment and functional recovery: Schneider (2014) found that patients with the equivalent of a college education are seven times more likely than those who did not finish high school to be disability-free one year after a moderate to severe traumatic brain injury.

  cognitive reserve could be a factor in neural adaptation during recovery from traumatic brain injury