Brain Plasticity

Brain Plasticity

• The brain’s ability to change (especially during childhood) by reorganizing after damage and building new pathways.

Constraint-Induced Therapy

Reading Braille

Hemispherectomy

Brain Plasticity

Limited “Neurogenesis”

Corpus Callosum: How the 2 Halves Connect

Optic Chiasm: Another Way to Connect

“Split Brain” Phenomena

Joe, A Split-Brain Patient

Right/Left Brain Differences

• Left Hemisphere– Language (literal interpretations)– Calculations

• Right Hemisphere– Making inferences– Helps make the meaning of our speech clear– Controls sense of “self”

Facts About “Handedness”

• 90% are right-handed• 96% of right-handed people process language

in their left hemisphere• 10% are left-handed• 70% process language in left hemisphere, just

like right-handed people• 30% process language in right hemisphere—or

in both

Left-Handedness

• More common among:• Musicians• Mathematicians• Professional baseball/cricket players• Architects• Artists– Michelangelo, da Vinci, Picasso