Neuroplasticity Research Paper

Neuroplasticity is basically the ability of your brain to change its function or structure by forming new neural pathways in response to new habits, behaviours and information.

The concept of neuroplasticity has long been questioned. The term of “neuroplasticity” did not even come about until the mid-late 20th century. When the term “plastic” was used to describe the brain by a select few neuroscientists, they were laughed at and the term was never thought of as a description for the human brain. The human brain was seen as a closed circuit and one that once you had it, you definitely had it. Scientists thought the brain would not develop anymore past a certain point in your life. Norman Doidge brings the concept of neuroplasticity into reality in his book “The Brain that Changes Itself,” a book about the triumphs in the frontier of brain science.

The videos that I watched we very informative and intriguing. In the neuroplasticity video it told us that neuroplasticity is the brain's ability to reorganize itself by forming new neural connections throughout life. Neuroplasticity is how we become better at problem solving, learning a new language, and increasing our ability to focus. An example, of my road to mastering a subject would be me learning how to play the clarinet. I vividly remember the first day I played the clarinet, I still remember that I had to look at my fingers to see if I they were on the right keys. Doing anything the first time most of the time is hard at first, but with time it becomes a habit. At first when I got my clarinet they told me to get reeds, when I saw them the first time I just saw thick strips of wood.

The concept of neuroplasticity is new and upcoming in the field of medicine. Neuroplasticity is defined as “the process in which your brain's neural synapses and pathways are altered as an effect of environmental, behavioral and neural changes.” Simply put, neuroplasticity is how your brain grows and changes. This is crucial to individuals who have sustained severe brain or spinal injuries. In order for these new synapses to form the neurons must be constantly stimulated through physical and occupational therapies. However, not all therapies are covered under health insurances, and when they are covered patients and families are still forced to pay hefty co-pays if they wish to receive treatments. Physical, Occupational, and Psychological therapies

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.

Neurodevelopmental disorders are weaknesses of the development and advancement of the cerebrum or focal sensory system. A smaller utilization of the term alludes to a turmoil of mind capacity that influences feeling, learning capacity, discretion and memory and that unfurls as the individual develops. The term is some of the time incorrectly utilized as an elite equivalent word for a mental imbalance and extreme introvertedness range issue.

The breakdown of the meaning neurocognitive is the neural processes and structures involved in mental action and the acquiring of knowledge and understanding throughout an experience. Now add Alzheimer’s disease; Alzheimer’s is a prolonged neurodegenerative disease associated with memory that gradually worsens over time. This creates the disease recognized today as the Neurocognitive disorder due to Alzheimer’s disease. This disease along with any disease is serious because the loss of memory can have various effects on a life. We use our brains for everything including memory. Neurocognitive disorder due to Alzheimer’s can affect memory in way of social cognition and any procedural action such as dancing, and playing music or talking socially.

Synaptic plasticity refers to a process through which the brain undergoes neural changes due to alterations in synaptic strength. Many studies have demonstrated that these synapses have the ability to strengthen or weaken on account of synaptic activity. In other words, an increase in synaptic activity will further strengthen that connection, making it more sensitive to a particular stimulus. Conversely, a decrease in synaptic activity will weaken the connection such that it loses its sensitivity to a given stimulus. The neuronal events that result in the strengthening or weakening of a synapse are explained through two mechanisms – Long-Term Potentiation (LTP) and Long-Term Depression (LTD). In fact, scientists believe that the coupling of these two mechanisms essentially contributes to memory and learning of an individual.

Another experience I’ve had with neuroplasticity was when I was learning to play a song on the ukulele. This particular song had tricky chord with weird fingerings that were uncomfortable. Nevertheless, I really wanted to learn the song

The human brain is completely malleable. James Olds, a professor of neuroscience at George Mason University, says that even the adult mind “is very plastic.” According to him, “The brain has the ability to reprogram itself on the fly, altering the way it functions.”

The brain ages just as our body ages; its ability to function and physical appearance change over time. Physical changes to the brain often include shrinking and death of neurons, decrease in neurotransmitter synthesis and signaling, and decrease in cortical thickness. The hippocampus, nucleus accumbens, and thalamus experience the most significant variances in the aging brain. These three regions can account for up 25-100% of the cognitive variance seen when comparing aged and younger individuals. Additionally, the brain can have losses of up to 50% of myelinated

neurophysiological is to say the science of neurons dealing with living matter such as the

In simple terms, Neuroplasticity can be defined as the ability of the human brain to adapt with the changes it encounters. It can be either functional plasticity or structural plasticity. The functional plasticity enables the brain to move the functions from a damaged area of the brain to undamaged areas. The structural plasticity involves the ability of the brain to physically change its structure with the learning.

Hi Cierra, you make some really great points in you post! Plasticity is such a vital mechanism as we grow older to keep the brain as youthful as possible. It makes me hopeful that such simple change to my life from eating healthy to exercising can have improve my plasticity and brain health. Great

Brain plasticity is a well studied phenomena, and a quick Google search will bring numerous studies and reports on the subject.