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The eight basic principles of brain
plasticity identified in the article are as follows:
1.
Experience-Dependent Changes: The brain changes in response to
experiences, and these changes can occur at various levels of analysis.
2.
Synaptic Pruning and Formation: While synaptic pruning is important
in brain development, synapses continue to form throughout life and are
essential for learning and memory processes.
3. Experience-Expectant Synapses: Early forming synapses are
"expecting" experiences, which then prune them back. These synapses
are found diffusely throughout the cerebrum.
4. Experience-Dependent Synapses: Later synapse formation is more
focal and localized to regions involved in processing specific experiences.
5. Selective Synapse Formation and Pruning: Specific experiences lead to both
selective synapse formation and selective synaptic loss, changing neural
networks by adding and pruning synapses.
6.
Plastic Changes in Brain Organization: Plastic changes in brain
organization can be studied at various levels, with gene expression being the
fundamental mechanism of synaptic change.
7. Not All Plasticity is Beneficial: While plastic changes generally
support improved motor and cognitive functions, they can also interfere with
behavior, leading to maladaptive outcomes in conditions like drug addiction,
pathological pain, epilepsy, schizophrenia, and dementia.
8.
Pathological Plasticity in Development: Examples of pathological plasticity
in the developing brain include fetal alcohol spectrum disorder and the effects
of severe prenatal stress, which can impact cognitive and motor functions in
both development and adulthood.
These principles highlight the
dynamic and complex nature of brain plasticity, emphasizing how experiences,
synapse formation and pruning, and the potential for both beneficial and
detrimental plastic changes play crucial roles in shaping brain development and
function.
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