the brains tendency to change and adapt as a result of experience and new learning. this generally involves the growth of new connections
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what happens to the brain during infancy
the brain experiences rapid growth in number of synaptic connections
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how many synaptic connections are there at age 2-3
15000
2x as many as in the adult brain
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what is synaptic pruning
as we age, rarely used connections are deleted and frequently used connections are strengthened
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who has done research into plasticity
Maguire et al
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what did they study
the brain of London taxi drivers
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what did MRI scans reveal about their brains
London taxi drivers have significantly more volume of grey matter in the posterior hippocampus
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what is the posterior hippocampus
the part of the brain associated with spatial navigational skills in humans and other animals
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what did maguire et al find happen after taxi drivers took 'the knowledge'
the learning differs the structure of the drivers brain
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ao3
ao3
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who's research supports plasticity of the brain
Draganski et al
+
Michelli
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what did Draganski et al find
they imaged the brains of medical students three months before and after final exams
found learning induced changes in the posterior hippocampus and the parietal cortex
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what is a limitation of plasticity
it may have negative behavioural consequences
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how did Medina et al's research support this idea
found that the brains adaption to prolonged drug use led to poorer cognitive functioning in later life as well as increased risk of dementia
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(strength)
what did Michelli find in bilingual people
found larger partial context in the brains of bilingual people compared to monolingual control
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Other cards in this set
Card 2
Front
what happens to the brain during infancy
Back
the brain experiences rapid growth in number of synaptic connections
Card 3
Front
how many synaptic connections are there at age 2-3
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