Plasticity and functional recovery of the brain after trauma

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  • Plasticity and functional recovery of the brain after trauma
    • Brain Plasticity
      • The brain's tendency to change and adapt as a result of experience and learning
      • During infancy
        • Rapid growth in the number of synaptic connections
        • Peaks at 15,000 for 2-3 year olds
          • Twice as many as in an adult brain
          • As we age, rarely used connections are deleted and frequently used connections are strengthened
            • Twice as many as in an adult brain
            • SYNAPTIC PRUNING
    • Research into plasticity
      • Maguire el al (2000)
        • Studied the brain of london taxi drivers
          • Significantly more volume of grey matter in the posterior hippocampus than in control group
            • This part is associated with spatial and navigational skills
          • As a part of their training, they have to take "The knowledge" in which they have to name streets and routes
            • Significantly more volume of grey matter in the posterior hippocampus than in control group
              • This part is associated with spatial and navigational skills
      • Draganski et al (2006)
        • Imaged the brain of medical students, 3 months before their final exam
          • Changes were seen to occur in the posterior hippocampus and the parietial cortex.
      • Mechelli et al
        • larger parietal cortex in brains of people who were bilingual
    • Functional recovery of the brain after trauma
      • Other areas of the brain are able to adapt and over compensate for others
      • A form of plasticity.
        • Following a damage through trauma, the brain's ability to redistribute or transfer functions usually performed by a damaged section
    • What happens in the brain during recovery?
      • The brain is able to rewire and reorganize by forming new synaptic connections.
        • secondary neural pathways that were not typically used are now used
          • Axonal sprouting
            • the growth of new nerve endings which connect with other undamaged nerve cells to form new neuronal pathways
          • Reformation of blood vessels
          • Recruitment of homologous areas
            • on the opposite part of the brain to perform specific tasks

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