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Summary Biopsychology AQA Cornell style notes
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AQA A level Cornell style notes on Biopsychology
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• Following physical injury, or other forms of trauma such as theexperience of a stroke, unaffected areas of the brain are often able
to adapt and compensate for those areas that are damaged
• The functional recovery that may occur in the brain after trauma is
an example of neural plasticity
• Healthy brain areas may take over the functions of those areas that
are damaged, destroyed or even missing
• Neuroscientists suggest that this process can occur quickly after
trauma(spontaneous recovery) and then slow down after several
weeks or months
• At this point the individual may require rehabilitative therapy to
further their recovery
What happens in the brain during recovery
• The brain is able to rewire and reorganise itself by forming new
synaptic connections close to the area of damage
Doidge(2007) • Secondary neural pathways that would not typically be used to carry
out certain functions are activated or 'unmasked' to enable
functioning to continue, often in the same way as before(Doidge
2007)
This process is supported by a number of structural changes in the brain
including:
Axonal sprouting Axonal sprouting: the growth of new nerve endings which connect
with other undamaged nerve cells to form new neuronal pathways
Denervation Denervation supersensitive: this occurs when axons that do a similar
supersensitive job become aroused to a higher level to compensate for the ones that
are lost. However, it can have the negative consequence of
oversensitivity to messages such as pain
Recruitment of
homologous areas Recruitment of homologous areas on the opposite side of the brain:
on the opposite side this means that specific tasks can still be performed. E.. If Broca's area
of the brain was damaged on the left side of the brain, the right-sided equivalent
would carry out its functions. After a period of time, functionality may
then shift back to the left
Evaluation
Strengths Limitations
, Negative plasticity
Negative plasticity It may have negative behavioural
consequences
• Evidence has shown that the
brain's adaptation to prolonged
drug use leads to poorer
cognitive functioning in later life,
as well as an increased risk of
dementia(Medina et al.2007)
Medina et al.(2007)
• 60-80% amputees have been
known to develop phantom lib
syndrome-the continued
experience sensations in the
missing limb as if it were still
there
• These sensations are usually
Ramachandran and
unpleasant, painful and thought
Hirstein(1998) to be due to cortical
reorganisation in the
somatosensory cortex that
occurs as a result of limb loss(
Ramachandran and Hirstein
Age and plasticity 1998)
This suggests that the brain's ability to
adapt to damage is not always
beneficial
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