Development And Plasticity In Sensory Thalamus And Cortex

This volume provides an update on the multitude of technical and experimental approaches in understanding the development and plasticity of the mammalian sensory thalamus and neocortex. The focus is on visual and somatosensory thalamus and neocortex in rodents and carnivores, and functional imaging studies in developing and aging human neocortex. It further provides a synthetic theoretical framework for future studies.

Neural plasticity--the brain's ability to change in response to normal developmental processes, experience, and injury--is a critically important phenomenon for both neuroscience and psychology. Increasing evidence about the extent of plasticity--long past the supposedly critical first three years--has recently emerged. Neural Plasticity offers the first succinct and lucid integration of this research and its implications. Pointing out the negative and the positive consequences of plasticity, Peter Huttenlocher describes plasticity in children and adults (in normal aging and in response to trauma), in sensory systems, the motor cortex, higher cortical functions, and language development, proceeding system by system, and paying particular attention to the cerebral cortex. One of the book's strengths is its range of references, not only to studies on human subjects but to the experimental study of animal models as well. This book will be a unique contribution to research and to the literature on clinical neuroscience.

A survey of the latest research, covering such topics as plasticity in the adult brain and the underlying mechanisms of plasticity. The notion that neurons in the living brain can change in response to experience—a phenomenon known as "plasticity"—has become a major conceptual issue in neuroscience research as well as a practical focus for the fields of neural rehabilitation and neurodegenerative disease. Early work dealt with the plasticity of the developing brain and demonstrated the critical role played by sensory experience in normal development. Two broader themes have emerged in recent studies: the plasticity of the adult brain (one of the most rapidly developing areas of current research) and the search for the underlying mechanisms of plasticity—explanations for the cellular, molecular, and epigenetic factors controlling plasticity. Many scientists believe that achieving a fundamental understanding of what underlies neuronal plasticity could help us treat neurological disorders and even improve the learning capabilities of the human brain. This volume offers contributions from leaders in the field that cover all three approaches to the study of cerebral plasticity. Chapters treat normal development and the influences of environmental manipulations; cerebral plasticity in adulthood; and underlying mechanisms of plasticity. Other chapters deal with plastic changes in neurological conditions and with the enhancement of plasticity as a strategy for brain repair.

Synthesizing current information about sensory-motor plasticity, Neural Plasticity in Adult Somatic Sensory-Motor Systems provides an up-to-date description of the dynamic processes that occur in somatic sensory-motor cortical circuits or somatic sensory pathways to the cortex due to experience, learning, or damage to the nervous system. The book e

Neural Plasticity Across the Lifespan reviews the recent scientific developments which are transforming our understanding of the human brain. For many years it was thought that modifications to the structural and functional organization of the brain were limited to a short early period of life, "the critical period", and, in adults, to the memory system. Recent research suggests that on the contrary we should see the human brain as a flexible structure, which adapts and modifies in response to learning, sensory experience, age and disease. The book provides an integrated overview of contemporary research on neural plasticity - the process by which the brain can change in structure and function to cope with new experiences and react to the effects of acquired damage or sensory deprivation. It reviews data on plasticity in the developing brain, looking at both typical and atypical development, alongside clinical and observational research on the adult population. It covers a number of key topics, including: different forms of neural plasticity factors affecting neural plasticity (ageing and gender), neural plasticity in language acquisition, memory and bodily self-consciousness mechanisms of repair – plasticity following sensory deprivation and acquired brain damage. This is an accessible overview of an emerging field of research which has fundamental implications for how we perceive our potential to change throughout our lives. It will be essential reading for all students of cognitive development, cognitive neuroscience and lifespan development.

Neural plasticity--the brain's ability to change in response to normal developmental processes, experience, and injury--is a critically important phenomenon for both neuroscience and psychology. Increasing evidence about the extent of plasticity--long past the supposedly critical first three years--has recently emerged. Neural Plasticity offers the first succinct and lucid integration of this research and its implications. Pointing out the negative and the positive consequences of plasticity, Peter Huttenlocher describes plasticity in children and adults (in normal aging and in response to trauma), in sensory systems, the motor cortex, higher cortical functions, and language development, proceeding system by system, and paying particular attention to the cerebral cortex. One of the book's strengths is its range of references, not only to studies on human subjects but to the experimental study of animal models as well. This book will be a unique contribution to research and to the literature on clinical neuroscience.

This title addresses fundamental questions about human brain development through the study of children with early occurring focal brain injury.

This is a seminal reference work in the field of developmental behavioural neuroscience, which has emerged in recent years as an important sister discipline to developmental psychobiology. The handbook provides an introduction to recent advances in research at the intersection of developmental science and behavioural neuroscience.