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What is brain plasticity essay
What is brain plasticity essay
What is brain plasticity essay
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Brain Plasticity
Brain plasticity, also known as neuroplasticity, is the ability of the neurons to alter their form or function in response to the environmental stimulation. Neurons operate in the brain’s circuitry along with other neurons; they can alter their function by changing the way they respond to inputs or influence other neurons through the strength of synaptic relationships.
Neuroplasticity is essential for the development of brain circuits and differences in these circuits make an individual. The human brain matures slowly, and thus neuroplasticity plays an essential role in brain development in response to the changing environment. Brain plasticity is also responsible for acquiring knowledge, skill, and repairing brain circuits
Carr mentions the affect that technology has on the neurological processes of the brain. Plasticity is described as the brains response through neurological pathways through experiences. The brain regions “change with experience, circumstance, and need” (29). Brain plasticity also responds to experiences that cause damage to the nervous system. Carr explains that injuries in accidents “reveal how extensively the brain can reorganize itself” (29).I have heard stories in which amputees are said to have a reaction to their amputated limb; it is known as a phantom limb. These types of studies are instrumental in supporting the claim that the brain can be restructured. Carr asserts that the internet is restructuring our brains while citing the brain plasticity experiments and studies done by other scientists. I have experienced this because I feel like by brain has become accustomed to activities that I do on a regular basis. For example, I rarely realize that I am driving when coming to school because I am used to driving on a specific route.
In the article “Brain Gain: The Underground World of “Neuroenhancing” Drugs” (Yorker 2009) Margaret Talbot discusses the misuse of prescription drugs that enhance academic performance at the college level. First Talbot introduces readers to a young college history major at Harvard University named Alex who receives a description of a demanding, busy life which seems impossible to control without the safety unapproved adopted use of a drug named Adderall. After that Alex’s dependency on the prescription drugs cognitive enhancers is described when he asks his doctor to increase the amount of intake and the listing of his daily routine on using Adderall during a week that required him to write four term papers. Next Talbot describes a personal
The brain has always had an amazing ability to adapt to its circumstances, an evolutionary edge, coupled with humanities capacity for reason and logic has made for quite a versatile organ. Researching neuroplasticity and non-synaptic plasticity can lead to a better understanding of how the brain adapts as well as how a normal brain functions. Neuroplasticity has the potential to affect brain mechanism related to emotional, motivational and cognitive processes (Crocker, Heller, Warren, O'Hare, Infantolino & Miller, 2012). Another functional and extraordinary ability of the brain is language. Language can define so much about how we think and yet after a brief window of time we find it very difficult to learn new languages. It is certainly not impossible to learn a second or third language but, it seems to be the case that plasticity occurs more with children (Giannakopoulou, Uther & Ylinen, 2013). Perhaps because plasticity can occur during developmental stages when language development is taking place or younger brains are just have more plastic potential. Understanding how plasticity and bilingualism interrelate can give us a better picture of how the brain deals with language, how this stimuli causes neuroplasticity to occur and how that plasticity can effect language functions. Does developing bilingual skills cause brain plasticity?
Neuroscience is about how the brain develops and functions. how it influences cognitive function and behaviour. About how the nervous system functions how it develops, and what it does. (Neuroscience, 2017) Neuroscientists have shown that the brain is affected by environmental conditions throughout the entire process of development, even prior to birth. This includes the type of nourishment, care, surroundings and stimulation the foetus or infant receives.(moodle,2017)
In our world, learning is more available to people. New knowledge is important for every person who like to gain information. This kind of people have their brain changing. The plasticity is responsible about that fact in the brain. The plasticity gives the brain the ability to grow up day after day. New language, dance and other activities help the brain to develop. Also, the plasticity had no limits according to time and age. We will discover the good effects of learning on brain plasticity.
Some of the key distinctions are that the young brain is largely not myelinated. Myelin is the coating of nerve fibers that connect nerve cells, similar to coating on a telephone wire, it helps transmission but it also gives strength. And so when you violently shake the young brain, you have a much greater chance to disrupt nerve fibers and their connections than you do an adult brain.
Neuroplasticity is the term given to the physical changes occurring in the brain over one’s lifetime. In the past, it was believed that the brain stayed the same size and shape all one’s life, but now that modern technology has given us the ability to view the brain visually and observe its changes, we have seen evidence of the brain’s natural ability to change its shape, structure and density. Neuroplasticity occurs in small scales over time, but can also change in response to injury, behaviour, environmental stimuli, thought, and emotions. This is significant in relation to learning, memory, development, and recovery from brain damage (Pascual-Leone et al, 2005). Neuroplasticity occurs when new
Joe Dispenza suggests, in his book ‘Evolve the Brain’, that if we choose to solely rely on our genetics, we are struck with our traits: the good, bad, or indifferent. However, if we choose to alter our neuroplasticity and experiences, we can thereby alter our genetics as well. It is possible to make new synaptic connections in the brain by two methods: learning new things and having new experiences. A new suggested theory is that the brain can be altered by attuning to our conscious mind and refining it.
Brain Development in early childhood is dependent on many factors. As the brain develops, cognitive, social and language acquisition activities build up. During cognition development language will naturally emerge. There are many factors that give to the outcome of brain development. As stated in The Development of Children, 2013 early brain development increases at a rapid rate. The brain does slow down its growth after infancy until there is another spurt around adolescence. The brain reaches about eighty percent of its mature weight at the onset of early childhood. At about five years of age, the brain is closer to ninety percent of its mature weight. Many significant changes occur during this slower time of early brain stages. “As seen within the brain the growth allows for myelination to continue. Myelination is when the brain that increases the spread of neural impulses to various areas of the head. During early childhood myelination occurs in the frontal cortex section of the brain. This fosters more cognitive protocol for the child” (Lightfoot, Cole 2013).
Neurobiology is a theory that deals with the brain and your nerves. It determines if you are a left or right brain person. One of the theorists is named Roger Sperry. He was a very big neurobiologist. A disease that deals with this theory is ADD/ADHD.
Neuroplasticity Neuroplasticity refers to the brain’s ability to remap itself in response to experience. The theory was first proposed by Psychologist William James who stated “Organic matter, especially nervous tissue, seems endowed with a very extraordinary degree of plasticity". Simply put, the brain has the ability to change. He used the word plasticity to identify the degree of difficulty involved in the process of change. He defined plasticity as ".the possession of a structure weak enough to yield to an influence, but strong enough not to yield all at once" (James, 1890).
As the human body goes through different experiences, the brain grows, develops, and changes according to the environmental situations it has been exposed to. Some of these factors include drugs, stress, hormones, diets, and sensory stimuli. [1] Neuroplasticity can be defined as the ability of the nervous system to respond to natural and abnormal stimuli experienced by the human body. The nervous system then reorganizes the brain’s structure and changes some of its function to theoretically repair itself by forming new neurons. [2] Neuroplasticity can occur during and in response to many different situations that occur throughout life. Some examples of these situations are learning, diseases, and going through therapy after an injury.
The purpose of this paper to examine the evolution of the human brain that distinguishes them from other species based on the traits that humans possess: such as language, emotional complexity and consciousness. The significance of traits are due to adaptations in humans to promote the survival of our ancestors. Professor Hamilton (2012) discusses that the evolution of the human brain starts with the idea of the Triune brain, proposed by MacLean, whereby the human brain is made up of three parts: Reptilian, Paleo-mammalian, and Neo-mammalian. Animals with the neo-mammalian brain have a more complex brain compared to the other parts, since this is where the neocortex evolved. Humans essentially have this higher brain function which is responsible for our ability to think, make decisions, promote agency, and the ability to relate with each other. This concept fits into the evolutionary process since it shows how the complex the brain has become through evolutionary processes. In essence, as humans, we “have a rich, evidence-based understanding of our behavior that can lead us to plan to be ‘better’ or ‘more successful’ people” according to Professor Hamilton (2012). Thus, shows how evolution plays a significance in understanding human behavior and comparing humans with other species.
"Patterns of activity in small, more primitive areas of the brain are recapitulated in larger, more advanced parts," Sutton says. "This means that nature did not have to develop new rules of operation for different levels of the brain from small clusters of cells to large systems."
Brain Development is a nonstop development, we never stop learning so our brain isn’t going to just stop I mean well when it’s our time, but it won’t as long as you continue to learn and grow. The human brain begins to develop as early as three weeks after conception. But our brain development is a lifetime process. It doesn’t just stop developing at a certain age. There is a difference in brain development in children and adults the early life is impressionable then in the maturity aspect of life. This is a positive thing because as children they learn new thing they’re open to new and exciting things but then again it can be negative because children tend to be vulnerable to development problems. Our brain develops not only from nurture