brain plasticity

Whats brain plasticity

• ability of the brain to modify its structure and function based on experiences

• Children have a more ‘ plastic’ brain - can change and adapt easily - early development , brain has a rapid growth in no. Of synaptic connections = easier for children to learn new things

• Easier to learn to speak more than 1 language as a kid = brain is more plastic

• Life experiences are crucial to brain change and adaptation, when we learn new info, nerve pathways in brain develop and as we experience these things again and again the connections become more stronger.

• The less we use the near pathways and the less we have the experiences, more likely to be pruned away

Kemperman et al - what’s it about, results, sample + evaluation

• investigated how different environments would change brain of rats

• Experimental and control condition:

• Experimental - 12 rats placed in ‘complex environment’ - variety of objects to play with , food variety. RESULTS - compared to lab cages rats, showed an increase in number of new neurons in brain - esp hippocampus

• Control - 12 rats placed in lab cages, with as much food and water - 4 rats per cage - RESULTS - no change in no. Of neurons in brain

• Supports brain plasticity as physical structure can change as a result of life experiences

EVAL - differences in humans and rats

Maguire et al

• investigated how different environments would change brains of rats

• Every London taxi driver has to complete a test called the knowledge where they are tested by an examiner - given a point in London and need to get there via the shortest route from memory

• Experimental condition : 16 right handed male taxi drivers - avg of 14 years experience

• Control condition : 50 right handed male non taxi drivers

• Scanned brains of both groups in an MRI machine - image of physical brain structure

• London taxi drivers showed a larger posterior hippocampus

• Hippocampus - involved learning and memory

• They found a positive correlation - more time a participant had been a London taxi driver = larger sized hippocampus

Kuhn et al

• pts got to play super Mario - playing certain video games places demands on your cognitive and motor skills

• Experimental condition - played vid games training for cognitive and motor skills - multiple things at once e.g memorising layout of maps and worlds, correctly using buttons on the controller and thinking strategically - trained for 2 months on the game , 30 mins per day

• Control condition - no vid games played

• Results - found significant grey matter in cerebellum, hippocampus, prefrontal cortex. No changes in grey matter of control condition

• Supports brain plasticity - concluded playing vid games resulted in new synaptic connections in brain areas involved in spatial navigation, strategic plannng, working memory and motor performance - all skills needed to play the game successfully.

Bezzola et al - golf

• experimental condition - 11 pts aged 40-60 years old - novices at golf - had 40 hours of golf practise - possible for older aged adults

• Control condition - matched in terms of age and sex - no golf training

• Scanned brains of pts in both groups with an fmri. Scanned their brains at stat and after completing 40 hours of golf practise. Then instructed pts to imagine w their eyes closed their golf swings from a first person view and in slow motion

• Results - found reduced activity in the motor cortex - responsible for movement - suggests experience of golf changed structure of brain and repeated golf practise had refined pathways in brain.

• Supports brain plasticity as brain had become efficient in neural pathways - due to brain changing its structure by becoming efficient = evidence