Neuroplasticity
Neuroplasticity 4 Neuroplasticity is the brain’s ability to change its structure and function in response to experience, learning, environment, injury, or disease. It’s how the brain adapts—by strengthening, weakening, creating, or pruning neural connections. Key ideas Learning-driven change: When you practice a skill (language, music, coding), the neural circuits involved become more efficient. Experience matters: Environments, habits, stress, and sleep all influence how the brain rewires. Lifelong ability: Plasticity is strongest in childhood but continues throughout adulthood. Main types Structural plasticity – Physical changes in the brain (e.g., new synapses, altered gray matter). Functional plasticity – Functions shift from one brain area to another (e.g., after injury). Mechanisms (how it works) Synaptic strengthening/weakening (long-term potentiation/depression) Neurogenesis (limited creation of new neurons, notably in the hippocampus) Synaptic pruning (removal ...