Cortical Neuroplasticity

Neuroplasticity helps the brain to recover from injury. When a brain activity associated to a given function is hurt, neuroplasticity helps the brain to transfer it to a different location in the brain. Also, Norman Doidge wrote a book about this experience. His book is “The Brain that changes itself: Stories of a Personal Triumph from the Frontiers of Brain Sciences”. In his book Norman Doidge gives examples of people who recovered from brain injury. They have begun to use the functions of their brain and move their body members.

Neuroplasticity is the ability of the brain to change and reorganize itself due to different circumstances throughout our lives. Just like plastic, the brain can easily be molded into something different. Our environment, emotions, thoughts, behavior all have an effect on our brain and how, over time, it is physically and functionally changed. In the video, Dr. Norman Doidge said just by learning new things and having new thoughts, the brain is rewired forming a new structure by increasing the amount of connections made. This is because different genes are being turned on releasing chemicals allowing new structures. Dr. Doidge also talked about the down side to neuroplasticity and how it allows addictions to be made. For example, when one intakes

The normal brain develops from childhood to young adulthood with a stereotypical pattern of cortical changes characterised by a progressive regionally specific decrease in the cortical gray matter (Gogtay et al., 2004; Shaw et al., 2006). Cortical thickness is dependent on age while cortical thinning is a normal phase of preadolescent brain development and it reflects optimization-driven pruning of neurons and synapses in the underlying white matter (Lenroot and Giedd, 2006; Muftuler et al., 2011). As such, cortical thinning does not reflect pathology per se, but can also be an

The brain is moldable throughout life. Each defining factor in a lifetime shapes the brain in a different way. While some influences are positive in their nature, others, even the most inconspicuous can

Neuroplasticity is a new subsect of the vast neurological scientific scramble that is exponentially progressing to this day. According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, this word does not even exist . However, Mike Torres, a director at Amazon and self-taught neurological researcher in Seattle, states that neuroplasticity is used heavily by psychologists today and refers to the brain’s ability to manipulate and expand the synapse paths in the nervous system .

The term plasticity is commonly defined as “the quality of being easily shaped or molded.” But when this term is used in the context of neural development, one may refer to this as brain plasticity and/or neuroplasticity, which means that the brain has the ability to change over a lifespan. Changes in one’s brain can occur by gaining knowledge (“exercising the mind”), memorization, stress, genes, hormones, and one’s environment.

The video on Brain Science was extremely interesting to me, especially because I have always thought of myself as “not a math person”. I think one of the most important concepts from the video is that our brains change depending on how we are using them. We lose synaptic connections if we are not using that part of the brain as much, and on the contrary, we can make new connections if we are often using another part of the brain. This was shown by an example of cab drivers in London. In London, cab drivers have to go through such extensive training (learning hundreds of routes, street names, etc.) and must pass a test before they can operate as a certain cab driver. Because of this, their hippocampus grows to accommodate all of the use that

The first theory is cortical spreading depression (6). A wave of decreased electrical activity of the nerves in a patient’s brain leads to a change in neural and vascular function (6). In response, an aura is present prior to a migraine. Furthermore, hyper excitability of trigeminal nerves activates the discharge of substance P, neurokinin, and Calcitonin Gene-Related Peptide, all of which are neuropeptides associated with inflammatory processes (8). These substances cause the release of pro-inflammatory mediators in the brain and for vasoconstriction then vasodilation to occur, leading to a migraine (4).

Recent drug trails have confirmed that the brain has the ability to trick itself into healing not only itself, but all aspects of the human body. Neuroplasticity is the study of the brains’ ability to change and adapt to certain medical conditions. Until now, the concept of neuroplasticity has been an unproven myth. These cases have revealed an unimaginable healing process that could potentially revolutionize the world of medicine. Double blind studies indicate placebos are effective with some people, acupuncture has apparently been effective with some disease's, and there have been reports of cannabis oil effecting miraculous cures. All of these provide strong evidence of the human brain influencing the bodies’ immune system.

Brain plasticity is the ability of the brain to change and adapt as a result of learning, experience, and memory formation, or as a result of damage to the brain. Many people get confused when they first hear about brain plasticity, they often think that the brain is similar to plastic. Brain plasticity in many cases is a very good thing because it allows the brain to transfer functions of a damaged area of the brain to an undamaged one. However, it can be detrimental in some cases, causing the brain to be influenced by psychoactive substances or pathological conditions. A very good example of brain plasticity is when a person loses his ability to control his legs and the brain through its plasticity transfer that strength to his arms.

The two types of brain plasticity are functional and structural plasticity. Functional plasticity refers to the brain’s ability to move “functions” from one damaged area of the brain to other undamaged areas. When a person has a brain injury, wherever the damage has occurred, loss of ability to perform a task or do something happens. For example, a person could have a brain injury that causes them to lose their ability to use their right hand. Because our brains have functional plasticity, healthy parts of the brain may take over those functions and the abilities can be restored. Neurons can reorganize and form new connections through undamaged neurons and new pathways are developed. Through rehabilitation and relearning of how to use their

According to Myers, neuroplasticity is currently defined as the ability for the brain to “modify itself after some types of damage” (82). This statement is in stark contrast with past-assumptions concerning how the brain is structured. To elaborate, scientists once believed that the “brain stopped developing after only the first few years of life”, thus supporting the ill-fated claim that that only “young brains would be ‘plastic’” (Liou). In other words, the brain structure a person was initially born with will remain the same for the rest of his/her life—it is unchangeable. It was also widely believed that severed nerve cells after the first few years of life could neither regenerate nor form new connections, implying that the functions

Researchers have found that manipulating neuroplasticity with idiplon can slow down the brains restructuring process which is responsible for sensorial compensation in case of a sensory loss.

The human brain gains and loses information through neuroplasticity in the hippocampus and in other parts of the brain due to different stimuli acting upon those parts. Neuroplasticity is defined as the ability to rearrange the function to stimulation from external or internal sources. Adaptive and maladaptive neuroplasticity occur mainly in the hippocampus and its structural changes are due to stress, aging, and metabolism. Electroconvulsive therapy, overexpression of mineralocorticoids, and metabolism effects are results of adaptive neuroplasticity; aging and stress show forms of maladaptive neuroplasticity in the hippocampus. In conclusion, stress, aging, and metabolism show that neuroplasticity does occur in the hippocampus. Further areas of study could focus on how alcohol affects the hippocampus’s ability to form new memories or its effects on neuroplasticity

Essentially, neurological brain development means the development of the brain. Although the brain will continue developing throughout a lifetime, it is believed that 75% of this development will occur within the first 6 years of a child’s life. As a result of this, for this particular presentation I will be focusing on brain development from infants aged 0-8.