Essay
PLAN Discuss plasticity and functional recovery
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Plan for a full mark biopsychology essay.
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Discuss plasticity and functional recovery. (16 marks)Outline:
Ability to change and adapt, structurally and functionally, to environment, e.g. new learning
Synaptic pruning, frequently used connections strengthened more efficient, rarely used deleted
E.g. videogames, new synaptic connections in spatial awareness
After trauma, functions performed by damage regions redistributed to undamaged areas
Neural unmasking, dormant synapses near damage activated
Axonal sprouting, new nerve endings connect with undamaged neurones to create new
synapses
Quickly following trauma (spontaneous), slows down, may require rehabilitative therapy
Evaluation:
P: research support from animals studies
E: Kemperman, rats in complex environment, larger hippocampus (learning, navigation)
C: questionable generalisability, more advanced cognitions, brain anatomy may be slightly
different
L: Maguire, taxi drivers, positive correlation time studying and hippocampus
P: factors affecting functional recovery not accounted for
E: Schneider, 40% college-educated disability-free recovery, 10% left school early
L: cognitive reserve affects neural adaptations, understanding valuable but incomplete
P: practical applications to treating brain damage
E: constraint-induced, electrical stimulation of brain, encourages further plasticity
E: research shows stem cells in processes such as axonal sprouting
A: brain damaged rats, stem cell transplants, more neurones in area of injury, may develop stem
cell transplants for stroke treatment
C: must also research how to minimise negative impacts, phantom limb syndrome, 60-80% of
amputees, cortical remapping of somatosensory cortex (Ramachandran and Hirstein)
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