neuroplasticity ERQ and SRQ

Plasticity

The capacity to be shaped or altered

Neuroplasticity

The ability for the brain to adapt and change over time by creating new neurons and building new networks

What makes the brain change

changes due to brain damage or structural changes due to learning

What do scientists refer to the process of neuronplasticity

The structural remodeling of the brain

Structural plasticity

refers to changes within brain structures (e.g. the hippocampus) due to learning experienced over time i.e. this does not happen immediately

Functional plasticity

(also known as functional recovery) refers to the brain’s ability to replace lost or damaged functions by using existing brain regions in their place

History of neuroplastisity

Historically, scientists believed that the brain stopped growing after childhood. 

• current research shows that the brain is able to continue growing and changing throughout the lifespan, refining its architecture or shifting functions to different regions of the brain.

How does it work?

Neuroplasticity encompasses how nerve cells adapt to circumstances—to respond to stimulation by generating new tendrils of connection to other nerve cells, called synapses, and to respond to deprivation and excess stress by weakening connections.

What did researchers establish about the brain?

Research has firmly established that the brain is a dynamic organ and can change its design throughout life, responding to experience by reorganizing connections—via so-called “wiring” and “rewiring.” 

Luby et al. (2013)  Second study aim

investigated the effect of childhood poverty on brain development and its implications once the child reached school age.

What’s did Luby et al. (2013) show?

showed that poverty in childhood was associated with reduced grey matter in the hippocampus and amygdala but this was mediated by the type of care given i.e. loving or hostile

What’s is that mains study?

Maguire (2000)

What is the second study?

Luby et al (2013)

Ami of maguire (2000)

To investigate whether changes could be detected in the brains of London taxi drivers and to further investigate the functions of the hippocampus in spatial memory

Method of Maguire (2000)

Natural experiment. The participants for this study were 16 healthy, right-handed male London taxi drivers. The taxi drivers' MRI brain scans were compared with the scans of 50 healthy right-handed males who did not drive taxis. The amount of years the drivers had been driving taxis for was also recorded.

result of Maguire (2000)

The posterior regions (back parts) of the taxi drivers' hippocampi were significantly larger than those of control subjects and the anterior (front) hippocampal region was larger in control subjects than in taxi drivers.

Results more in depth

Also, hippocampal volume of the right hippocampus in each taxi driver correlated with the amount of time spent as a taxi driver - positively in the right posterior and negatively in the right anterior hippocampus. (So the back part of the right hippocampus grew larger and the front part shrank). The larger posterior hippocampi made the taxi drivers more proficient at spatial memory and navigation.

Conclusion of Maguire (2000)

This study demonstrates the plasticity of the hippocampus in response to environmental demands, suggesting that the changes in hippocampal grey matter, at least on the right, are acquired. The environmental demands of being able to navigate a complex structure of streets led the taxi drivers to develop more pronounced posterior hippocampi than the control subjects.

Limitation of Maguire (2000)

 A sample size of 16 is too small to generate robust results

Strengths of Maguire (2000)

The use of a blind (unbiased) researcher to count the pixels on the MRI scans increase the study’s validity