The study of the adaptability of the nervous system. It includes changes in neural pathways and synapses due to changes in behavior (e.g., learning), environment (e.g., stressors) and bodily injury (e.g., brain damage).
Questions tagged [neuroplasticity]
21 questions
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How does Sodium Valproate cause neural plasticity
I have been reading a fascinating paper: Valproate reopens critical-period learning of absolute pitch
18 individuals were given Sodium Valproate (VPA) for a fortnight during which they trained on a pitch-training game. Results suggest that VPA…
P i
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How well does it actually work to surgically reroute the optical nerve?
Two publications, Roe et al, 1992[1] and Metin & Frost, 1989[2], describe results pertaining to the ability of a region of cortex to process information from a different sensory mode than the one that it normally does.
Specifically, they describe…
mac01021
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Do blind people learn Braille equally fast as the sighted?
The visually deprived brain undergoes extensive remodeling due to cross-modal plasticity. This leads to increased areas of the cortex being available for other purposes such as tactile processing. Now I am wondering if there is anything known about…
AliceD
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What is the core mechanism behind neuroplasticity?
Specifically I am looking at reopening of the critical period of plasticity.
Modern neuroscience has started to unlock the secret of neuroplasticity.
A common experimental setup is with mice. They have a critical period between days 20 and 32 when…
P i
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Do neurons that *don't* fire together unwire?
We all know the classic Hebbian theory, often phrased as "neurons that fire together wire together." I'm curious about how other connections get pruned when two neurons start to fire together.
If two neurons start to make a strong connection and…
Cort Ammon
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What causes motor laterality/ side dominance?
I would like to understand what leads up to motor laterality, or side dominance of motor skills.
I made this assumption that it depends on neuroplasticity and the side in which one first learns the motor skill; whereas the more you practice, the…
AgentMFaith
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Does the growth in size of hippocampus of London taxi drivers affect their net number of brain cells?
In the paper, London Taxi Drivers and Bus Drivers: A Structural MRI
and Neuropsychological Analysis in the Journal Hippocampus, the authors state that changes in the hippocampus of taxi drivers in London results from their specific occupation. The…
Minh Khôi
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Is brain plasticity such that we can train ourself to see with our ears?
I am finishing writing some code which will parse a photo (eventually video) and use all the RGB information to synthesize an audio representation. I am wondering whether a typical person has sufficient neural plasticity to learn how to listen to…
Scott Stensland
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How long does it take for a new muscle fiber to be connected to motor neuron?
When new muscle fibers are formed through hypertrophy, how long does it take for motor neurons to connect to the new muscle cells in order to be able to control them?
After taking a break from working out, I noticed that my strength has actually…
timtam
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Scaling of Ca2+/biochemical signals with dendritic spine size?
I am looking for references that discuss the scaling of biochemical signals in dendritic spines with spine size/synaptic strength. A recent paper (Walker et al. 2017) reports attenuation of NMDA receptor Ca2+ signal with increasing spine size,…
Gaurang
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Plasticity between excitatory and inhibitory neurons?
All that I've learned about synaptic plasticity only concern the synapses between excitatory neurons. For example, all pyramidal neurons (excitatory) in the cortex have plastic synapses between them, but as far as I know there are no plastic…
sebjwallace
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Synaptic connectivity in the newborn's brain
In my understanding, learning is related to the strengthening and weakening of synaptic connections. Very roughly said: Synaptic connections that are used often are strengthened, those that are used rarely are weakened. This is basically the Hebb…
Hans-Peter Stricker
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What exactly is neuroplasticity, and can it be demonstrated with a simple experiment?
As far as I know, neuroplasticity is about restoring brain functions by moving some functions to other still functional. Neuroplasticity is more prominent in children than in adults.
What are other examples of neuroplasticity that are unrelated to…
Vi.
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Using perceptual adaptation for enhancing realism of VR/other entertainment
I am quite a fan of the recent oculus rift VR glasses, but it does have several flaws over normal vision, most notably a much less wide field of view, the so-called screen door effect because of too low resolution (example 1, example 2) and often…
Orpheon
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What type of factor is practice of motor skills?
I recently asked a question about the cause of motor laterality: What causes motor laterality/ side dominance?
I understand that there can be genetic factors, epigenetic factors, or environmental factors. But in terms of continuous practice of motor…
AgentMFaith
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