Nueroplasticity

Nueroplasticity

• The changes that occur in the brain

• These occur from the breaking and formation of synaptic connections between neurons

• Neurons are cells that make up the brain

• Can be affected by genetic reasons or environmental reasons, such as learning or injury 

• There are 2 levels of Neuroplasticity: Synaptic or cortical 

Synaptic plasticity

• Synapse: The connection between 2 dendrites, how information travels in our brain

• Observing single neuron to neuron changes

• Depends on the activity of the neurons

• The more active the neurons are, the better they are at connecting to other neurons.

Cortical remapping

When one area of the brain assumes the function of another brain area, due to injury

Neural network

• A series of connected neurons

• Information travels along these networks that enable us to do things

• The more times you’ve done an action, the more developed this neural network will be and you will become better at the skill

Synaptic pruning

• Synaptic pruning happens when we lose these synaptic connections because we do not need them

• Unused synapses are pruned, which increases the effectiveness of the more commonly used neural circuits

• Synaptic pruning happens mostly during adolescence, especially the thinning of grey matter in the cortex.

• The pruning helps to improve our cognition because it strengthens other networks

Draganski et al Aim

To investigate whether learning a new skill (juggling) would have an effect on the brains of a patient 

Draganski et al Procedure

• 24 volunteers between 20 - 24 (21 females 3 males)

• An MRI was performed before the study to see the gray matter of all participants

• Divided into jugglers and non-jugglers 

• Jugglers taught to juggle 3 balls and practiced until they mastered

• At 3 months participants had another MRI

• After the 2nd MRI participants were told they were not allowed to juggle

• After another 3 months participants had a 3rd MRI

• The non-jugglers were used as a control

Draganski et al Results

• Brain scan before the experiment showed no difference between jugglers and non-jugglers

• The 2nd scan showed significant more gray matter (neuron growth) in the mid-temporal area of both hemispheres in the jugglers

• The 3rd scan showed the gray matter in the jugglers decreased, but remained higher than the original scan

• There was a correlation between juggling performance and the amount of change in the brain 

• Participants who trained more often had more significant changed

• Participants who trained less showed reduction in brain change

• In the control there was no change in gray matter