Practical application Our increased understanding in this area has contributed to the of neurorehabilitation. In other words, it has helped in the treatment of those who have suffered brain trauma. The fact that we know that spontaneous brain recovery slows down after a few weeks, means that we are aware of when it may be necessary to start physical therapy to maintain improvements in functioning. Also, electrical stimulation of certain parts of the brain following particular damage following injury or strokes. Although the brain has the ability to fix itself to a certain extent, some intervention is likely to be necessary if full recovery is to be achieved. Negative plasticity The brain’s ability to rewire itself does not always have positive consequences. Some adaptations may be maladaptive (unhelpful). Prolonged drug use, for example, has been shown to result in poorer cognitive functioning as well as an increased risk of dementia in later life. Also, 60-80% of amputees are known to develop phantom limb syndrome. This is the continued experience of sensation in the missing limb. These sensations are usually unpleasant and painful and are thought to arise from cortical reorganisation in the somatosensory cortex that results from the limb loss. Individual differences: Functional plasticity tends to reduce with age, and this therefore affects Age & Gender the speed of recovery. Marquez de la Plata et al (2008) found that, following brain trauma, older patients (40+ years old) regained less function in treatment than younger patients and they were also more likely to decline in terms of function for the first five years following the trauma. However, Bezzola et al (2012) found that 40 hours of golf training produced changes in the neural representation of movement in participants aged between 40 and 60. Using fMRI they found that motor cortex activity was reduced for the novice golfers compared to a control group. Suggesting more efficient neural representation after training. This supports the view that neural plasticity does continue throughout the lifespan. There is also evidence to suggest that women recover better from brain injury because their function is not as lateralised (concentrated in one hemisphere) Individual differences: Evidence suggests that the person’s level of educational attainment will Education influence how well the brain recovers after trauma. Schneider (2014) found that the more time brain injured patients had spent in education, (known as their cognitive reserve) the greater their chances of a disability-free recovery. Notes Biopsychology: Split-brain research Lateralisation
Practical application Our increased understanding in this area has contributed to the of neurorehabilitation. In other words, it has helped in the treatment of those who have suffered brain trauma. The fact that we know that spontaneous brain recovery slows down after a few weeks, means that we are aware of when it may be necessary to start physical therapy to maintain improvements in functioning. Also, electrical stimulation of certain parts of the brain following particular damage following injury or strokes. Although the brain has the ability to fix itself to a certain extent, some intervention is likely to be necessary if full recovery is to be achieved. Negative plasticity The brain’s ability to rewire itself does not always have positive consequences. Some adaptations may be maladaptive (unhelpful). Prolonged drug use, for example, has been shown to result in poorer cognitive functioning as well as an increased risk of dementia in later life. Also, 60-80% of amputees are known to develop phantom limb syndrome. This is the continued experience of sensation in the missing limb. These sensations are usually unpleasant and painful and are thought to arise from cortical reorganisation in the somatosensory cortex that results from the limb loss. Individual differences: Age & Gender Functional plasticity tends to reduce with age, and this therefore affects the speed of recovery. Marquez de la Plata et al (2008) found that, following brain trauma, older patients (40+ years old) regained less function in treatment than younger patients and they were also more likely to decline in terms of function for the first five years following the trauma. However, Bezzola et al (2012) found that 40 hours of golf training produced changes in the neural representation of movement in participants aged between 40 and 60. Using fMRI they found that motor cortex activity was reduced for the novice golfers compared to a control group. Suggesting more efficient neural representation after training. This supports the view that neural plasticity does continue throughout the lifespan. There is also evidence to suggest that women recover better from brain injury because their function is not as lateralised (concentrated in one hemisphere) Individual differences: Education Evidence suggests that the person’s level of educational attainment will influence how well the brain recovers after trauma. Schneider (2014) found that the more time brain injured patients had spent in education, (known as their cognitive reserve) the greater their chances of a disability-free recovery. Notes Biopsychology: Split-brain research Lateralisation