Week 7

Science Concept- Brain plasticity

Often people describe the brain as being made of plastic because of its ability to change throughout life. The brain is able to reorganize itself by creating new connection between neurons. Brain plasticity can occur for two main reason, either as a result of learning, experience, and memory formation, or as a result of damage to the brain. Brain plasticity plays a role when it comes to stroke recovery because the brain (after intense rehab) can relearn how to do functions that were lost after a stroke and healthy parts of the brain can take over those lost functions.

Areas of the brain change as we become more acclimated in specific areas due to gray matter's capability to shrink or thicken. For example, research finds that bilingual people have larger left inferior parietal cortex than monolingual brains. As people learn more and become more disciplined in areas the brain changes and forms the more we learn. (Bavelier)