Plasticity

Brain plasticity

Plasticity describes the brains tendency to change and adapt as a result of experience and new learning

During infancy, The brain experiences of rapid growth and the number of synaptic connections it has, Peeking at about 15,000 per neuron at 2 to 3 years of age. This is twice as many as there is in an adult brain, as we age, rarely used connections are deleted and frequently used connections are strengthened - This is called synaptic pruning it provides lifelong plasticity

Research into plasticity

• Eleanor Maguire (2000) studied the brains of London taxi drivers and found significantly more volume of grey matter in the posterior hippocampus than in a matched control group. This part of the brain is associated with the development of spatial and navigational skills. There was a positive correlation between Gray matter and the amount of learning experience as a taxi

• Bogdan Draganski Imaged the brains of medical students 3 months before and after their final exam. Learning -induced changes had occurred in the posterior hippocampus and parietal cortex as a result of learning

• Sara Lazar (2005) used MRI scans to demonstrate how experience meditators have a thicker cortex and non-meditators

Strength

One strength is that the plasticity may be a lifelong ability - Ladina Bezzola (2012) Demonstrated how 40 hours of golf training produced changes in the neural representations of movements and participants aged 40 to 60, fMRI showed a reduced motor cortex activity in golfers compared to control group, Suggesting more efficient neural representations after training. This shows that your plasticity can continue throughout the lifespan

Limitation

One limitation is that plasticity may have a negative behavioural consequence - Evidence has shown that the brain’s adaptations to prolonged use of drugs lead to poor cognitive functioning in later life as well, as an increased risk of dementia (Medina 2007)