Explain neuroplasticity, descirbe one relevant study.

Demonstrate the link between the results and

neuroplasticity.

Sample response 1

Neuroplasticity is the brain's ability to reorganize itself by forming new neural

connections. Neuroplasticity allows neurons in the brain to compensate for injury or
to respond to changes in the environment. When neurons fire continually as a result of
stimulation in the environment, the neurons sprout new dendrites – known as
dendritic branching.  This increases the number of synapses available for the
behaviour. Dendritic branching as a result of stimulation in the environment is seen in
a study by Maguire.

Maguire carried out a study to see if neuroplasticity would be seen in the brain of
London taxi drivers due to the amount of time that they had been driving the streets of
London. The hypothesis was that since they were required to pass a test called “the
knowledge” which required them to memorize the location of key places and routes in
the city and they spent a lot of time driving around the streets of London, repeated
use of the brain for spatial memory would result in neuroplasticity and a denser
hippocampus.

MacGuire used 16 healthy right-handed males who were licensed taxi drivers. She
compared the taxi drivers to 50 healthy right-handed males who were not taxi drivers.
An MRI was used to detect changes in the structure of the brain as a result of their
experience. The results showed that the taxi drivers had larger posterior hippocampi
compared to the controls and that the controls had larger anterior hippocampi
compared to the taxi drivers. Also, there was a positive correlation between the
number of years the participants had been taxi drivers and the size of the posterior
hippocampus, but a negative correlation with the size of the anterior hippocampus.

Maguire argued that this demonstrates the plasticity of the hippocampus in

response to environmental demands. She argued that the posterior hippocampus
stores a spatial representation of the environment and that in the London taxi
drivers the volume of the posterior hippocampus expanded because of their high
reliance on navigation skills and spatial memories.

333 words

Mark band：7-9
Sample response 2

Neuroplasticity is the brain’s ability to change shape and grow grey matter in
accordance with its environmental needs as well as practice. The concept is that as the
brain develops throughout our lifetime, our brains adapt to the parts of the brain we
use the most, which results in the growth of grey matter which means more synapses
and more neurotransmission.  According to the theory of localization of function,
specific areas of the brain are specialized in certain behaviours. This was seen in
Draganski's "juggler study."

The aim of the study was to see whether learning how to juggle would lead to
neuroplasticity. The participants were all new to juggling. To start the study, the
researchers carried out an MRI on all of the participants. They were then allocated to
one of two conditions - learning juggling and not learning juggling. The learners were
asked to practice their juggling lesson until they had mastered it.  Then they had a
second MRI scan.  The non-juggling group served as a control group for the duration
of the study.

Compared to the original scans, Draganski found that the jugglers showed a
significantly larger amount of grey matter in the mid-temporal area - an area
associated with visual memory. There was no change over the duration of the study in
the non-juggling condition.  This shows that learning a new skill leads to changes in
the brain - or neuroplasticity.

240 words

Mark band: 6-7