The Human Brain Gains And Loses Information Through Neuroplasticity

Describe the anatomy of the neuron and the ways that neurons communicate with each other.

Memory refers to the persistence of learning in a state that can be revealed at a later time (Squire, 1987). A memory is a network of neocortical neurons and the connections that link them. That network is formed by experience as a result of the concurrent activation of neuronal ensembles that

Among these different processes are encoding, storage, consolidation, and retrieval. This study hypothesized that the hippocampus plays a different role in each of these. The method of this study is especially unique because it used temporary chemical inactivation of the hippocampus, which had not been done before. This temporary inactivation is unique because it lets the researchers selectively assess the role of the hippocampus during each of the processes discussed above. To test encoding, the inactivation occurred during learning of a maze task; to test retrieval, inactivation occurred during a retention task. Results indicate the temporary inactivation of the hippocampus impairs both encoding and retrieval. To test long-term consolidation, rats were trained and then separate groups received hippocampal treatment for different amounts of time between one and five days. Results showed that temporary inactivation during this time period disrupts memory for the already learned task. This study partially supports the result of the study by Eldridge et al. (2000) in that they both show the hippocampus is necessary for memory retrieval. However, it does not address the retrieval of different types of memory. This study also supports the idea from Wang et al. (2012) that the hippocampus may be involved in consolidation and storage of new memories but not necessarily of older

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.

Whenever you learn something new or you experience something, it's encoded in your brain, and it's encoded by subtle changes in the strength of connections between neurons. For example, one study showed that the white matter in an adults' brains changed as they learned how to juggle over a period of several months. "They found that if you scan [the brains of] adults before they learn how to juggle, and then three months later, you can see changes in the brain structure," (Dumontheil).

An alcoholic beverage is a drink that contains a psychoactive drug ethanol, a depressant which in low doses causes euphoria, reduced anxiety, sociability which in higher doses could be caused by unconsciousness, lack of critical mental function and intoxication. Drinking alcoholic beverages is not a current event, the production, transportation and the distribution of alcohol were banned in the 1920s under the presidency of President Woodrow Wilson by the Eighteenth Amendment. This paper talks about the effects of excessive drinking of alcohol termed as alcohol dependence on the volume or size of the hippocampus of humans. The hippocampus is a small organ located in the temporal lobe. The hippocampus is an important part of the limbic system. The hippocampus is mainly associated with memory, mainly long-term memory which is important in the learning process.

It is full of comprehensive and engaging style; well reference and scientifically proven, summarizes the current revolution in neuroscience and neuroplasticity, and closes the gap that the old age or matured brain, which is unchangeable is changeable and malleable (plastic); extending it functions from one region to the other. Doidge engaging style of writing, scientific proves, and academic tone help to make the book persuasive.

Hippocampus is a small, curved region, which exists in both hemispheres of the brain and plays a vital role in emotions, learning and acquisition of new information. It also contributes majorly to long term memory, which is permanent information stored in the brain. Although long term memory is the last information that can be forgotten, its impairment has become very common nowadays. The dysfunction is exemplified by many neurological disorders such as amnesia. There are two types of amnesia, anterograde and retrograde. Anterograde amnesia is inability in forming new information, while retrograde refers to the loss of the past memory. As suggested by Cipolotti and Bird (2006), hippocampus’s lesions are

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.

After a new memory is learnt, it enters the process of encoding during which the memory is labile and capable of disruption until it becomes stabilised over a period of time (Nader & Einarsson, 2010; Nader et al, 2000). This process is called consolidation and originally consisted of the theory that once stabilised in the brain, it remains fixed (Suzuki et al, 2004). This theory has been rebutted by the acceptance of reconsolidation, a theory that imposes the ideology that when memories are retrieved, through similar experiences (Lee, 2009), they become labile until,

The neuroplasticity term was suggested first by William James in the 19th century as a result of his observations concerning the relationship between an animal’s behavior and the brain structural alteration. Later, based on their experiments with cats and monkeys, two neurophysiologists concluded that plasticity is restricted by the critical period. However, recent studies contradict their conclusion by confirming that plasticity can be extended to the duration of the whole life experience. Thus, neuroplasticity, which is experience-dependent, is defined as an alteration in structural and functional neural connections (Fu & Zuo, 2011). In order to understand the mechanism of neuroplasticity, scientists have used technology to access within

Doctors and scientists dispute the exact role of the hippocampus, but agree that it has an essential role in the formation of new memories about personally experienced events. Some researchers prefer to consider the hippocampus as part of a larger medial temporal lobe memory system responsible for declarative memory. When a long-term, declarative memory is made, certain neuronal connections in the temporal lobe are strengthened, and others are weakened. These changes are fairly permanent, however some may take weeks or months before they are complete

Parents do you always wonder why some high school students perform better in high school, whereas some other high school students do not perform well at school. This concept has to be linked to cognitive performance and neuroplasticity development. In this report I have answered my focus questions using a wide range of primary process and secondary process to answer this focus question. In this outcome I will find the possible answers and conclusion on whether high school can improve their cognitive performance and if this was true what are the techniques that are employed that help them improve their cognitive performance and neuroplasticity. So parents join me in this journey as we explore the scientific findings, data and information that

Brain plasticity is an active area of research that focuses on how physiological and environmental change can modify the structure and function of the brain. The region primarily responsible for this phenomenon is the cerebral cortex, which is found on the outer layer of brain to play roles additional roles in conducting thought, memory and perception. Particularly, when individuals are diagnosed with sensory deprivation, brain plasticity can compensate this disadvantage by strengthening another sense. This relation was further explored when M.M Shiell hypothesized, “compensatory visual enhancements in deaf people are supported by plasticity in [the] auditory cortex” (Shiell et al., 2016), to introduce her study on comparing relative thickness