Neuroplasticity – the Ability of the Brain to Change from North Sask Acquired Brain Injury Services

New discoveries about the brain’s ability to reshape itself offer hope to persons who have suffered a stroke
or traumatic brain injury.   

Just a few decades ago, it was believed that the brain was hard-wired, fixed in form and function, so that by the time we reach adulthood we are pretty much stuck with what we have.  It was believed that if cells in the brain controlling a particular function were damaged, the individual would never be able to recover the lost function.   

Scientists were confused, however, by patients who had an area of the brain destroyed yet could still
perform the functions of that area.  

An example of this is a patient who has suffered a stroke that destroyed the left hemisphere of her brain,
rendering her right hand paralyzed and making her unable to speak. She later regained use of that hand
and the ability to speak when the right side of her brain took over the functions normally assigned to the
left hemisphere.  

This ability of the brain to change and adapt is termed neuroplasticity.  Scientists are working to understand how this change occurs and how we might influence or enhance this natural ability.

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Neuroplasticity isn’t only important for brains that have had a traumatic injury or illness.  It actually operates at a lower level in everyday life. Whenever someone learns something new, the brain changes
and adapts to this new skill or knowledge and may actually alter its structure.

The effects of brain plasticity in learning seem to continue throughout life.

One of the most well documented instances of brain plasticity in learning is the structural change in the brain when someone learns to play a musical instrument.  Even in training as short as two weeks, people learning music have visible differences in a part of their brain –the auditory motor cortex.

Following brain injury (either traumatic or as the result of a stroke), plastic changes are geared towards maximizing function in spite of the damaged brain.  In studies involving rats in which one area of the brain was damaged, brain cells surrounding the damaged area underwent changes in their function and shape that allowed them to take on the functions of the damaged cells.

Although this phenomenon has not been widely studied in humans, data indicate that similar (though less effective) changes occur in humans following injury.
 
Brain Plasticity:  What Is It?  www.washington.edu  … Neuroplasticity and the Changing Brain.  How the
Brain Rewires Itself.  Bridget Coila. June 2009.