01:830:310 Lecture Notes - Lecture 14: Hemispherectomy, Constraint-Induced Movement Therapy, Handedness

• School: Rutgers University
• Department: Psychology
• Course: 01:830:310
• Professor: Professor Mayhew

Document Summary

Plasticity is the ability of the brain to change structurally and functionally as a result of input from the environment (ability to adapt). Demonstrated by learning and remembering, changes in cortical maps, and microscopic changes in molecular structure and mitotic activity: give some of the examples of plasticity in cortical maps that were mentioned in class. Animal studies indicate that experience related changes may occur in mammalian brain structures, but so far there has been no evidence of comparable alterations in the human brain. To investigate the possibility, we divided a homogenous group of volunteers (21 female, 3 male; mean age was 22 years. +/- sd) who were matched for sex and age, into 2 groups, designated as jugglers and non-jugglers. Both groups were inexperienced in juggling at the time of their first brain scan. Subjects in the juggler group were given 3 months to learn a classic 3 ball cascade juggling routine.