Neuroplasticity Draganski SAQ

Study Procedure

- 24 Participants (21 female 3 male) - Non jugglers - Ages 20-24 Control Group and Experimental Group After experimental group members mastered juggling, they stopped for 3 months, and got an MRI

Intro - Dendritic Branching Definition

Dendritic branching is the process by which the dendrites of one neuron branch out to establish connections with other neurons.

Aim of Study

Draganski et al. 2004 aims to investigate how learning a new skill, juggling, affected the brain structure of participants.

Intro - Neural Pruning Defnition

However, if there is no continuous stimulation from the environment and the neural networks remain largely unused, neural pruning may occur.

Link to Neuroplasticity

It is evident that neuroplasticity had occurred in this experiment, as the participants' brains had adapted in response to its new environmental demands. Thus, the formation and pruning of neural connections which corresponds structurally to the presence of gray matter on MRI scans supports theory of neuroplasticity.

Intro - Neuroplasticity Definition

Neuroplasticity refers to the brain's ability to adapt by forming new connections as a result of experience, learning, or following an injury.

Intro - Link to Study

The brain has the lifelong ability to reorganize itself by forming new neural connections and pruning old neural connections that are no longer required. One study that demonstrates this neuroplasticity is a study by Draganski et al (2004).

Findings

The findings show that participants who learned to juggle had significantly more gray matter than the control group. However, after the juggling group had stopped juggling for three months the difference in the gray matter present of the jugglers and the control group had decreased, but was still present.

Conclusion

The researchers therefore concluded that learning juggling had led to changes in participants' brain structure, namely the formation of neural connections.