Brain Plasticity

1130 Words3 Pages

Brain Plasticity

Throughout the line of questioning we have been following in our efforts to get "progressively less wrong" in our class wide model of the brain, a constant debate has sparked on the issue of whether brain equals behavior. If we agree that brain truly equals behavior, then we can surmise that the vastly differing human behavior must also translate to differing nuances in the brain. It is a widely conceded point that experience also effects behavior, and therefore experience must also affect the brain. On this point, I have been intrigued: are these differences in the brain mysterious; things as well theorized on by a philosopher as researched by a biologist? Or can an experience actually change the physical structure of the brain? In my web research, I found a partial answer in the concept of plasticity.

According to source (1), "Plasticity refers to how circuits in the brain change--organize and reorganize--in response to experience, or sensory stimulation." There appear be four types of stimuli to which a brain responds with change: developmental, such as in the newly formed and ever evolving brain of a child; activity dependent, such as in cases of lost senses; learning and memory, in which the brain changes in response to a particular experience; and finally injury induced, resulting from damage in the brain, as occurs in a stroke or in the well-know case of Phineas Gage. Although the particular change in the brain is dependent on the type of stimulus, brain plasticity can be widely described as an adjustment in the strength of synaptic connections between brain cells. (1)

The developmental function of brain plasticity is important not only in the world of early childhood, but also has implicati...

... middle of paper ...

... site.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=8878303&dopt=Abstract

3) A Comprehensive Functional Approach to Brain Injury Rehabilitation, on the Brain Injury Source web site.

http://www.biausa.org/Pages/dbscip%20source/functional.approach.html

4)Functional plasticity of language-related brain areas after cochlear implantation, on the PubMed web site

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=11408326&dopt=Abstract

5) Regulation of Synaptic Function by Neurotrophic Factors in Vertebrates and Invertebrates: Implications for Development and Learning, on the Learning & Memory web site.

http://www.learnmem.org/cgi/content/full/6/3/193?maxtoshow=&HITS=10&hits=10&RESULTFORMAT=&titleabstract=synaptic+plasticity&searchid=1046163577003_13&stored_search=&FIRSTINDEX=0&journalcode=learnmem

More about Brain Plasticity

Open Document