Brain Plasticity

Brain Plasticity (Neuroplasticity): How Experience Changes the Brain
The brain’s capacity to reorganize and adapt after damage is known as neuroplasticity
or brain plasticity.
 Neuroplasticity occurs due to learning, experience, and memory formation or

due to damage to the brain.
 Learning and new experiences cause new neural pathways to strengthen,
whereas neural pathways used infrequently become weak and eventually die.
This process is called synaptic pruning.
 Neuroplasticity provides protective effects in managing traumas during human
development (Cioni et al., 2011). Also, learning music or second languages can
increase neuroplasticity (Herholtz & Zatorre, 2012).
 Plasticity allows the brain to cope better with the indirect effects of brain
damage resulting from
inadequate blood supply following a stroke.
 Fundamentally, the nervous system needs to rearrange itself to adapt to its
unfolding situation. The genes program the body to have neuroplasticity so that
animals can survive in unpredictable environments.
Early Theories
 Early experimental work on neuroplasticity was conducted by an eighteenth-

century Italian scientist, Michele Malacarne, who discovered that animals made
to learn tasks would develop larger brain structures (Rosenzweig, 1996).
 The first theoretical notions of neural plasticity were developed in the

nineteenth century by William James, a psychology pioneer. James wrote about
this topic in his 1890 book The Principles of Psychology (James, 1890).
 In the twentieth century, influential neuroscientist Santiago Ramón y Cajal

proposed that neurons in adults break down and rebuild (Fuchs & Flügge,
2014).
Modern Theories
 Progress of the idea – modern theories: Modern experimental instruments like

imaging tools have yielded enough information to develop improved theories.
 Scientists now think that neuroplasticity occurs throughout all life stages, with
extensive capacities from childhood development to healing diseases (Doidge,
2007).
Functional Plasticity
 Functional Recovery After Brain Trauma
 After a brain injury, such as an accident or stroke, the unaffected brain areas
can adapt and take over the functions of the affected parts. This process varies
in speed, but it can be fast in the first few weeks (phase of spontaneous
recovery) then it becomes slower.
 It can be helped by rehabilitation, and the nature of rehabilitation programs
varies with the type of injury, from retraining some types of movement to
speech therapy.
 There are ways through which brain plasticity can enable brain-damaged
people to regain some of their past capacities. Each of the approaches through
which the nervous system adapts its functionality has differences in how it
occurs and in which patients it occurs.
Axonal sprouting
 Functional plasticity can occur through a process termed axonal sprouting,

where undamaged axons grow new nerve endings to reconnect the neurons,
whose links were disconnected through damage.
Homologous Area Adaptation
 Although each brain hemisphere has its own functions, if one brain hemisphere
is damaged, the intact hemisphere can sometimes take over some of the
functions of the damaged one.
 In homologous area adaptation, brain-behavior becomes active in the
equivalent part on the opposite side of the brain from where it usually occurs
(Grafman, 2000). If it normally occurs on the right side, it would move to the
left side, and vice versa.
 This functional neuroplasticity occurs more often in children than in adults.
Shifting over a module to the opposite side displaces some of the functionality
that was originally there.
Structural Plasticity
 How Experience Changes Brain Plasticity
Structural neuroplasticity is the brain’s ability to change its physical structure as a

result of learning, involving reshaping individual neurons (nerve cells).
As each neuron matures, it sends out multiple branches; this increases the number of
synaptic contacts from neuron to neuron. At birth, each neuron in the cerebral
cortex has approximately 2,500 synapses.
By the time a child is three years old, the number of synapses is approximately 15,000
(Gopnick et al. 1999).
As we mature, the connections we do not use are deleted, and the ones we use
frequently are strengthened, called neural pruning (Purcell & Zukerman, 2011). This
process continues throughout our life.
While plasticity occurs throughout life, it is especially relevant during the early
“critical years,” when brain plasticity enables the senses, language, and other skills to
develop.
Cross-Modal Reassignment
Cross-modal reassignment occurs when the brain uses an area that would normally
process a certain type of sensory information (such as sight) for a different type of
sensory information instead (such as sound).
When a brain region does not receive sensory data as expected, say because a person
has become blind, this brain region may become repurposed for another sense, like
touch.
This can enable blind people to “see” Braille text with their fingers (Grafman, 2000).
Also, some blind people learn to reuse their visual centers for hearing sounds, thus
becoming capable of “echolocation” to navigate around environments (Thaler &
Goodale, 2010).
Map Expansion
In map expansion, the brain notices that a certain area gets extensive use, so it
expands this area (Grafman, 2000). This is comparable to how the body can notice
that certain muscles get more use (such as those involved in an often-played sport),
then grows those muscles larger.
When a person often engages in an activity or experience, this produces enlargement
of the associated brain region. Brain growth occurs right away, so neuroscientists can
detect it through brain imaging technologies while it occurs (Grafman, 2000).

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Brain Plasticity (Neuroplasticity): How Experience Changes the Brain

 Neuroplasticity occurs due to learning, experience, and memory formation or

 Early experimental work on neuroplasticity was conducted by an eighteenth-

 The first theoretical notions of neural plasticity were developed in the

 In the twentieth century, influential neuroscientist Santiago Ramón y Cajal

 Progress of the idea – modern theories: Modern experimental instruments like

 Functional Recovery After Brain Trauma

 Functional plasticity can occur through a process termed axonal sprouting,

Homologous Area Adaptation

 How Experience Changes Brain Plasticity

Structural neuroplasticity is the brain’s ability to change its physical structure as a

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