4) Neuroplasticity in relation to the brain and human behaviour. (22 marks)
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⇨ Besides spatial memory, another area that has attracted the attention of psychologists is the effects of different lifestyles on the brain. ⇨ A= To investigate whether environmental factors such as an enriched or an impoverished environment affect development of neurons in the cerebral cortex. ⇨ P= Rats were placed in either an enriched environment or an impoverished condition. = In the enriched environment, 10-12 rats in a cage were provided with different stimulus objects to explore and play with. This group also received maze training. = In the impoverished condition, each rat was placed in an individual cage, ensuring isolation, and no stimulation was applied. = The rats typically spent 30-60 days in their respective environments before they were killed so the researchers could study changes in brain anatomy. ⇨ F= The anatomy of the brain was different for rats in the enriched environment and the impoverished condition. = The brains of the enriched environment rats had increased thickness in the cortex. = The enriched environment rats had developed more acetylcholine receptors in the cerebral cortex, which are important in learning and memory. = The frontal lobe, which is associated with thinking, planning, and decision making, was heavier in the rats that had been in the enriched environment. = Overall, the combination of having company and many interesting toys created the best conditions for developing cerebral thickness. ⇨ Applications = The study shows that the brain grows more neurons if stimulated. This can be applied to child development in schools and at home, as more stimulation at a younger age can develop better or more progressive learning habits in the future.
Conclusion
⇨ Neuroplasticity
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⇨ Neuroplasticity has been studied by many researchers such as Maguire. ⇨ A= The study by Maguire et al (2000) aimed to investigate how the brain structure of London taxi drivers differed from the average brain. ⇨ P= The participants for this quasi-experiment included 16 right- handed male taxi drivers. The control group consisted of 50 healthy right-handed male subjects who did not drive a taxi. ⇨ M= The brain of the taxi drivers were MRI scanned and compared to the MRI scans of the control group. Researchers also correlated the number of years of taxi driving experience with results of the MRI scans. ⇨ R= Taxi drivers had increased grey matter volume in the posterior hippocampus. = Control group has increased grey matter volume in anterior hippocampus = a correlation was observed between the number of years of taxi driving experience and grey matter volume in the hippocampus. = the longer they drove a taxi, the larger the volume of their posterior hippocampus. The opposite was true for the anterior hippocampus. = this suggests that the redistribution of grey matter occurred in the hippocampus of the taxi drivers, from the anterior to the posterior.
Introduction
⇨ Neuroplasticity refers to the brain's ability to rearrange the connections between its neurons. The changes that occur to the structure of the brain, are results of learning or experience. ⇨ Certain factors like behavior, environment or neutral processes also cause a change in the brain structure. ⇨ During the changes, the brain engages in synaptic pruning, deleting neural connections that are no longer useful or necessary, and strengthening the essential ones. ⇨ In order to address the question, the two pieces of research that I will be discussing are Maguire et al (2000) and Rosenzweig and Bennett (1972). Both studies
