Neuroplasticity, also known as neural plasticity, or brain plasticity, is the ability of neural networks in the brain to change through growth and reorganization. It is when the brain is rewired to function in some way that differs from how it previously functioned. These changes range from individual neuron pathways making new connections, to systematic adjustments like cortical remapping. Examples of neuroplasticity include circuit and network changes that result from learning a new ability, information acquisition, environmental influences, practice, and psychological stress.
Neuroplasticity was once thought by neuroscientists to manifest only during childhood, but research in the latter half of the 20th century showed that many aspects of the brain can be altered (or are "plastic") even through adulthood. However, the developing brain exhibits a higher degree of plasticity than the adult brain. Activity-dependent plasticity can have significant implications for healthy development, learning, memory, and recovery from brain damage.
The term plasticity was first applied to behavior in 1890 by William James in The Principles of Psychology where the term was used to describe "a structure weak enough to yield to an influence, but strong enough not to yield all at once". The first person to use the term neural plasticity appears to have been the Polish neuroscientist Jerzy Konorski.
One of the first experiments providing evidence for the neuroplasticity phenomenon was conducted in 1793 by Italian anatomist Michele Vicenzo Malacarne who described experiments in which he paired animals, trained one of the pair extensively for years, and then dissected both. Malacarne discovered that the cerebellums of the trained animals were substantially larger than the cerebellum of the untrained animals. However, while these findings were significant, they were eventually forgotten. In 1890, the idea that the brain and its function are not fixed throughout adulthood was proposed by William James in The Principles of Psychology, though the idea was largely neglected.
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Neuroplasticity, also known as neural plasticity, or brain plasticity, is the ability of neural networks in the brain to change through growth and reorganization. It is when the brain is rewired to function in some way that differs from how it previously functioned. These changes range from individual neuron pathways making new connections, to systematic adjustments like cortical remapping. Examples of neuroplasticity include circuit and network changes that result from learning a new ability, information acquisition, environmental influences, practice, and psychological stress.
In neurophysiology, long-term depression (LTD) is an activity-dependent reduction in the efficacy of neuronal synapses lasting hours or longer following a long patterned stimulus. LTD occurs in many areas of the CNS with varying mechanisms depending upon brain region and developmental progress. As the opposing process to long-term potentiation (LTP), LTD is one of several processes that serves to selectively weaken specific synapses in order to make constructive use of synaptic strengthening caused by LTP.
In neuroanatomy, a neural pathway is the connection formed by axons that project from neurons to make synapses onto neurons in another location, to enable neurotransmission (the sending of a signal from one region of the nervous system to another). Neurons are connected by a single axon, or by a bundle of axons known as a nerve tract, or fasciculus. Shorter neural pathways are found within grey matter in the brain, whereas longer projections, made up of myelinated axons, constitute white matter.
This course explains the mathematical and computational models that are used in the field of theoretical neuroscience to analyze the collective dynamics of thousands of interacting neurons.
This course explains the mathematical and computational models that are used in the field of theoretical neuroscience to analyze the collective dynamics of thousands of interacting neurons.
This course focuses on the cellular mechanisms of mammalian brain function. We will describe how neurons communicate through synaptic transmission in order to process sensory information ultimately le
The course introduces students to a synthesis of modern neuroscience and state-of-the-art data management, modelling and computing technologies with a focus on the biophysical level.
This one-week course "Motor Control - from Thought to Action" brings together leading experts in the field of motor control, who will discuss the underlying fundamental principles of how movement and
Unraveling the neuronal mechanisms of fear learning might allow neuroscientists to make links between a learned behavior and the underlying plasticity at specific synaptic connections. In fear learnin
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Animals are capable of evaluating sensory cues for possible threats and adapting their behaviours accordingly. Fear learning is an evolutionarily conserved behaviour crucial for animal survival, durin
Structural synaptic plasticity may underlie experience and learning-dependent changes in cortical circuits. In contrast to excitatory pyramidal neurons, insight into the structural plasticity of inhib