PSYC 2400 Lecture Notes - Lecture 7: Synaptic Pruning, Visual Cortex, Synaptogenesis
Document Summary
The extensive generation of neurons and synapses result in an overabundance that must be eliminated. Synaptic pruning occurs at different times in different areas of the brian and is not fully completed until adolescence. Gray matter (cell bodies, unmyelinated axons) increase dramatically and begin to decline. The capacity of the brain to be shaped by experience is referred to as plasticity. Plasticity is the capacity of the brian to be affected by experience. Experience plays a central role in determining which. Brain areas that don"t receive typical experience are used for different functions. Visual cortex activation for tactile stimulation in blind individuals. Temporal cortex (auditory) activation for visual stimulation in deaf individuals. E-e plasticity is the process through which the typical wiring of the brain occurs in part as a result the kinds of general experience that every human environment will have. If the expected experience is not available, as the case of congenital cataracts, development.
