Plasticity/functional recovery

• Plasticity-

  • The brian’s ability to modify it’s structure and functions based on experiences.
  • Infants have the most plasticity through its 15,000 synaptic connections per neurone at 2-3 years old.
  • As we age these connections go through synaptic pruning, so the ones we don’t use are lost and the ones we do use are strengthened
  • All takes place until we pass.
• Plasticity-

  Maguire – 2000-

  • Studied London taxi drivers
  • Found a significant increase in the area of the posterior hippocampus, which is responsible for spatial and navigational skills
  • With the longer that they’d been a driver the larger the grey matter was, showing structural changes over time
  • Proving that plasticity is a constant process, even in adulthood.
• Plasticity-

  Draganski- 2006-

  • Did brain scans on medical students 3 months before and after their final medical exam saw changes in the posterior hippocampus and parietal cortex, as a result of learning for their exams and skills after their exams.
• Plasticity-

  S- Long life ability- Bezzola (2012) used 40–60-year-olds, showed that 40 hours of golf training improved motor cortex activity, compared to the control, using fMRI’s

  W- Negative plasticity- Medina (2007) found that prolonged drug usage increased the chance of dementia and worsened cognitive functions.

  W- Negative plasticity- 60-80% of amputees still get painful and unexplained sensations as if their limb is still there, and this can happen years after surgery.
• Functional recovery-

  • The brain's ability to adapt after damage, through transferring functions to undamaged parts of the brain.
  • An example of neural plasticity.
  • Can be spontaneous recovery but can also require rehabilitation therapy to further this recovery.
  • Doidge (2007) secondary neural paths take over from the main ones that were damaged, reactivating them.
• Functional recovery-

  • Neural regeneration – repairing the damaged areas
  • Neural reorganisation – undamaged areas take over
  • Neural unmasking – dormant neurones take place of the damaged ones
• Functional recovery-

  • Axonal sprouting – new nerve endings grow, connect with the old undamaged ones to replace the damaged neuronal pathS.
  • Denervation super-sensitivity – axons that do similar jobs become aroused to a higher level to compensate to the lost ones, can cause oversensitivity to messages like pain.
  • Recruitment of homologous – similar areas of the brain on the opposite side take over, and after time the functionality may switch back, due to its recovery.
• Functional recovery-

  S- Real-world application- helped understand the recovery, like the axonal growth, encouraging new treatments.

  W- Schneider (2014) found that education previous to injury increased the rate of recovery, 40% with a disability free recovery had 16 years of education, and 10% had 12 years – suggesting that its not simple and has other effecting factors.