The Rehabilitation Of Stroke Patients

For the episode of “what makes me” David eagleman explains to us as to how our life shapes our brain and at the same time how the brain also shapes our life. The human brain has the capabilities of shape itself to fit the world around it. Like the brain of a newborn has very few neurons that are only starting to communicate, by the time the baby grows older the neurons increase and there over 2 million connections every second. However it stops at a certain age and soon neuron activity becomes specific to the activities that we humans prefer to do. However if the brain lacks the proper environment or is deprived of the things it needs, activity of the neurons is permanently disrupted, these leads to a child having developmental issues. So our

The prefrontal cortex, which is the anterior part of the frontal lobes, controls understanding consequences, impulse control, abstract thinking, long range planning, and mental flexibility (Ortiz 93-94). Researchers at UCLA, Harvard Medical School, and the National Institute of Health have been working together to understand brain development. Their research has shown that at a young age the brain overproduces gray matter, which is the overall thinking part of the brain. After this comes the pruning process in which gray matter is removed. Paul Thompson from UCLA describes this time as a "massive loss of brain tissue" (as quoted in Ortiz 94). The average amount of tissue lost per year is one to two percent (Ortiz 94). While this pruning process is taking place the myelination is occurring simultaneously. Myelination is when white matter, what insulates the brain, makes brain process more efficient. This process is also thought to shape brains neural connections for adulthood (Ortiz 95). With age, the brain becomes denser and more organized which makes it better at processing and understanding information. Changes in the brain also can happen late into the twenty's (Beckman 3). A member of the UCLA research team reported that "[The] frontal lobe undergoes the most change during adolescence-by far. It is also the last part of the brain development" (as quoted in Ortiz 94). For most, full brain development is reached during the ages

Carr goes further by exploring theories of the brain and mentioning several neuroscientists. Several monkey brains later, an important discovery was finally made. Brain plasticity is our brain's ability to adapt and change. Our brain can rewire and provide new pathways. Our brains simply put, are capable of extensive reconstruction.

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 brain is very complex and allows us to do different things. The part of the brain known as the

The ability to develop or create new connections and wirings begins to shorten as time goes on. This process is could a “critical period” and is the period in which the brain can develop. After this time, the brain no longer can create new connections and wirings. Torsten Wiesel and David Hubel tested this concept by using a newborn kitten. To demonstrate who the brain and

Brain development is a very important thing. There are of course many things that can go wrong with the brain; serious illnesses and accidents can effect the development. Personally I believe that the two most important stages are when you’re a child and teenager. I watched a powerful video titled “Children do what Children see” That video really stuck with me. It shows how important it is for parents to set good examples and morels for their children because it truly does effect how they will grow

Whereas, all bodily functions depends on the neurotransmissions of the nerve cells and synapse connections, when these cells and connections die, removal is the only option to assure the functions such as memory and cognition continue. The frontal cortex is responsible for cognitive functions such as planning, action execution, and impulse control. By the time a child reaches the age of puberty his or her brain resembles an adult brain in context of weight, size, areas of the brain specific to certain functions, and folding. However, the development of the brain is incomplete (Powell, 2006).

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.

It is I would say the most complex part of our body that changes all the time. One needs to know what is the best way to use our brain. I am sure in the years to come as more and more scientists research into the brain there will be more light shed how on more of the incredible thins it can do. Now I know that the brain needs time to be able to adjust to something and more importantly that one needs to work the brain so it can be used to its full capacity. One must give up and keep using our brain to find the best possible solution to whatever problem one has. The brain just works in different ways but there will always be a solution. I look forward to find out more about learning as I go through the

There are two ways in which the brain can restore function after a stroke, re-adaptation through neural plasticity, and cell restoration. Due to some stem cells still existing in the brain through life, it can regrow some damage, though it is pretty limited in doing so, and ever gets back to its pre-stroke state. With re-adaptation, the brain remaps some of the functions that were lost, to other areas of the brain. It’s this process that is attributed to the majority of recovery after stroke. Yet again however, the brain is not able to restore full functionality after a major attack, even with both of these processes working in tandem. There are a few ways of helping the brain heal itself, however, and can get people far closer to their pre-stroke performance then what could be done on their own. The four ways in which this can be done are varied. They range from exercise, to drugs, and even stem cell therapy. Though all have their uses, exercise based therapy remains the most common, and most effective source of recovery. (Murphey, Corbett, 2009) It still remains to be see if or how we can restore full function to a stroke patient, though the field of medicine will not stop until it finds a way. In that regard, science has its most powerful effect, inspiring people to better, not just for themselves but for humanity as a

Neurons are little things in our brains that send electrical currents to the brain to let it know that you want to move a certain part of the body. Neurons can change over time, they can get stronger by struggling with a problem and they can get weaker by you not challenging your brain. We know this

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.”

There are several ways the brain develops. The brain can develop through different phases in development. Before birth, a process called neurogenesis takes place, during which cells are generated. The cells would then migrate to where they belong in the brain. The time when a child turns three, eighty percent of the brain growth is finished. The brain muscle of the body is very important, especially at the beginning stages of birth.

In modern research scientists, educators, nutritionists, psychiatrists, and geneticists are constantly working together to find out how the mind-body connection affects learning. Scientists are researching how our ability to generate new brain cells affects our abilities to learn. Research has shown that our brain develops new brain cells every day. This continues until we die. According to Palombo-Weiss, R. (1997), “it's our ability to generate new brain cells that accounts for the brain's plasticity-its ability to continue to learn and update its database. Scientists generally agree that each human being has approximately 100 billion neurons, each of