Instruct: Given a question, retrieve documents that answer the question.
Query: What is neuroplasticity?
Neuroplasticity, also known as brain plasticity, neuroelasticity, or neural plasticity, is the ability of the brain to change throughout an individual's life, e.g., brain activity associated with a given function can be transferred to a different location, the proportion of grey matter can change, and synapses may strengthen or weaken over time. Research in the latter half of the 20th century showed that many aspects of the brain can be altered (or are "plastic") even through adulthood.[1][2][3][4] However, the developing brain exhibits a higher degree of plasticity than the adult brain.[5][6]:30
Activity-dependent plasticity Environmental enrichment (neural) Neural backpropagation Neuroplastic effects of pollution Kinesiology Lumosity
Zangen studies neuroplasticity in the brain reward system and the effects of brain stimulation on neuroplasticity in psychiatric disorders including depression, addiction and attention deficits. 
In 1923, Karl Lashley conducted experiments on rhesus monkeys that demonstrated changes in neuronal pathways, which he concluded were evidence of plasticity. Despite this, and other research that suggested plasticity took place, neuroscientists did not widely accept the idea of neuroplasticity.
Brain injury will commonly be accompanied by acute swelling, which impairs function in brain tissue that remains alive. Resolution of swelling is an important factor for the individual's function to improve. The greatest factor in functional recovery after brain injury comes from the brain's ability to learn, called neuroplasticity. After injury, neuroplasticity allows intact areas of the brain to adapt and attempt to compensate for damaged parts of the brain. Although axons and the peripheral nervous system in the developing brain can regenerate, they cannot in the adult brain. This is partly because of factors produced by cells in the brain that inhibit this regeneration. Dendrites, however, will develop from intact axons, as part of the neuroplasticity process. After severe brain injury, improvement in function related to neuroplasticity is unlikely to occur without help from health professionals skilled in rehabilitation. Recent studies have found collagen is extensively distributed throughout the brain and may be essential in protecting the brain against degeneration such as that in Alzheimers[1][2]
Activity-dependent plasticity is a form of functional and structural neuroplasticity that arises from the use of cognitive functions and personal experience; hence, it is the biological basis for learning and the formation of new memories. Activity-dependent plasticity is a form of neuroplasticity that arises from intrinsic or endogenous activity, as opposed to forms of neuroplasticity that arise from extrinsic or exogenous factors, such as electrical brain stimulation- or drug-induced neuroplasticity. The brain's ability to remodel itself forms the basis of the brain's capacity to retain memories, improve motor function, and enhance comprehension and speech amongst other things. It is this trait to retain and form memories that is associated with neural plasticity and therefore many of the functions individuals perform on a daily basis. This plasticity occurs as a result of changes in gene expression which are triggered by signaling cascades that are activated by various signaling molecules (e.g., calcium, dopamine, and glutamate, among many others) during increased neuronal activity.
Paul Bach-y-Rita (April 4, 1934 – November 20, 2006) was an American neuroscientist whose most notable work was in the field of neuroplasticity. Bach-y-Rita was one of the first to seriously study the idea of neuroplasticity (although it was first proposed in the late 19th century), and to introduce sensory substitution as a tool to treat patients suffering from neurological disorders.
This implied neuroplasticity during the critical period. However, Merzenich argued that neuroplasticity could occur beyond the critical period. His first encounter with adult plasticity came when he was engaged in a postdoctoral study with Clinton Woosley. The experiment was based on observation of what occurred in the brain when one peripheral nerve was cut and subsequently regenerated. The two scientists micromapped the hand maps of monkey brains before and after cutting a peripheral nerve and sewing the ends together. Afterwards, the hand map in the brain that they expected to be jumbled was nearly normal. This was a substantial breakthrough. Merzenich asserted that, "If the brain map could normalize its structure in response to abnormal input, the prevailing view that we are born with a hardwired system had to be wrong. The brain had to be plastic."[13] Merzenich received the 2016 Kavli Prize in Neuroscience "for the discovery of mechanisms that allow experience and neural activity to remodel brain function."[99]
Given the central importance of neuroplasticity, an outsider would be forgiven for assuming that it was well defined and that a basic and universal framework served to direct current and future hypotheses and experimentation. Sadly, however, this is not the case. While many neuroscientists use the word neuroplasticity as an umbrella term it means different things to different researchers in different subfields ... In brief, a mutually agreed upon framework does not appear to exist.[87]
In some subjects, improvements due to the technology do not happen immediately because the brain requires time to rewire and create new links, neuroplasticity. Neuroplasticity depends on the age of the individual. Younger people reported that they perceived little changes from the first time they wore glasses and a second wearing in which they have had time to adapt to the technology. Middle age people reported that the colors continued to change from the first time they wore the lens, and that color brightness and enhancement got better with time. Most participants related that the biggest effects of the glasses are not perceived initially but after a few days, confirming that the neuroplasticity takes time.
Neuroplasticity is most active in childhood as a part of normal human development, and can also be seen as an especially important mechanism for children in terms of risk and resiliency.[63] Trauma is considered a great risk as it negatively affects many areas of the brain and puts strain on the sympathetic nervous system from constant activation. Trauma thus alters the brain's connections such that children who have experienced trauma may be hyper vigilant or overly aroused.[64] However a child's brain can cope with these adverse effects through the actions of neuroplasticity.[65]
A surprising consequence of neuroplasticity is that the brain activity associated with a given function can be transferred to a different location; this can result from normal experience and also occurs in the process of recovery from brain injury. Neuroplasticity is the fundamental issue that supports the scientific basis for treatment of acquired brain injury with goal-directed experiential therapeutic programs in the context of rehabilitation approaches to the functional consequences of the injury.
Studies in people recovering from stroke also provided support for neuroplasticity, as regions of the brain remained healthy could sometimes take over, at least in part, functions that had been destroyed; Shepherd Ivory Franz did work in this area.[94][95]
Training in neuroplastic surgery requires completion of a neuroplastic and reconstructive surgery fellowship which lasts 1–2 years. Such fellowships are available to individuals who have completed a residency in Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, ENT Surgery, Neurosurgery or Oral and Maxillofacial surgery. As of today, the only formal fellowship training program in neuroplastic and reconstructive surgery is located at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and Johns Hopkins Hospital. The fellowship is co-sponsored by both Departments of Plastic Surgery and Neurosurgery. The first surgeon formally trained in "Neuroplastic and Reconstructive Surgery" was Dr. Gabriel Santiago [2016-18], who completed ENT surgery residency in the US Navy prior to starting the fellowship. The first Neuroplastic Surgery Research Fellow was Dr. Amir Wolff [2017-18], an attending oral-maxillofacial surgeon from Rambam Medical Center in Haifa, Israel.
Zif268 is an Immediate Early Gene (IEG) thought to be involved in neuroplasticity by an up-regulation of the transcription factor during REM sleep after pre-exposure to an enriched environment. Results from studies testing the effects of zif268 on mice brains postmortem, suggest that a waking experience prior to sleep can have an enduring effect in the brain, due to an increase of neuroplasticity.
Due to more recent Medical, Rehabilitation and ongoing results 'neuroplasticity' within the mechanics of our brains lead to re-arrangement of the brain's workings. These often result in the synapses arranging alternate routes, to achieve previous habits. Neuroplasticity is the brain's ability to reorganise itself by forming new neural connections throughout life. Neuroplasticity allows the neurons (nerve cells) in the brain to compensate for injury and disease and to adjust their activities in response to new situations or to changes in their environment.
The first peer reviewed journal to recognize neuroplastic and reconstructive surgery as its own field was the "Journal of Craniofacial Surgery" which dedicated its January 2018 issue to introducing the new field of neuroplastic surgery to its readership. In that issue, the editor-in-chief, Mutaz Habal, published an editorial on neuroplastic surgery where he stated: "Based on the desire to present the fact that neuroplastic surgery is there, we have a dedicated this issue of the "Journal of Craniofacial Surgery". This presentation mostly involves surgical procedures that will be termed ‘‘neuroplastic’’ in the years to come."
Along with neuroplasticity, people who undergo hemispherectomies remarkably recover due to resilience. Resilience is the ability, in this case, of the brain being able to recover from a tough situation and take back its shape. Neuroplasticity resilience explains why the hemisphere that is still intact is able to recover many of the functions that were once the removed hemisphere's job. Resilience here is an action in patients with hemispherectomies in which they recover and navigate back to health.
In 2002 the book "The Mind and the Brain: Neuroplasticity and the Power of Mental Force", Sharon Begley and Jeffrey M. Schwartz explained the results of Schwartz's research into the origin and treatment of obsessive compulsive disorder. Here, Schwartz explores the subject of the neuroplasticity of the brain and expands upon the idea of "brain lock", a term he introduced in his 1997 book "Brain Lock: Free Yourself from Obsessive-Compulsive Behavior".
Neuroplastic or neuroplastic and reconstructive surgery is the surgical specialty involved in reconstruction or restoration of patients who undergo surgery of the central or peripheral nervous system. The field includes a wide variety of surgical procedures that seek to restore or replace a patient’s skull, scalp, dura (the protective covering of the brain and spinal cord), the spine and/or its overlying tissues.
Neuroplasticity is defined as the brain's ability to reorganize itself, lay new pathways, and rearrange existing ones, as a result of experience. Neuronal changes after damage to the brain such as collateral sprouting, increased activation of the homologous areas, and map extension demonstrate the brain's neuroplastic abilities. According to Thomson, "Portions of the right hemisphere, extended left brain sites, or both have been shown to be recruited to perform language functions after brain damage. All of the neuronal changes recruit areas not originally or directly responsible for large portions of linguistic processing. Principles of neuroplasticity have been proven effective in neurorehabilitation after damage to the brain. These principles include: incorporating multiple modalities into treatment to create stronger neural connections, using stimuli that evoke positive emotion, linking concepts with simultaneous and related presentations, and finding the appropriate intensity and duration of treatment for each individual patient.
A 2005 study found that the effects of neuroplasticity occur even more rapidly than previously expected. Researchers imaged the brains of medical students during a period of their studying for exams. In a matter of months, the students' gray matter increased significantly in the posterior and lateral parietal cortex.[15]
Gail Forrest received state and federal funded grants to research on neuroplasticity, improvement in secondary consequences and restoration of function for individuals after SCI. She has published extensively in the area of neuroplasticity and the use of exoskeleton on posture and walking after SCI.
Under the brand Resilient Mind, CORE Health Foundation is creating a curriculum on neuroplasticity and treatment interventions, as well as educating the public on neuroplasticity and how to advocate for family members with a brain injury.
Recent studies have called attention to the role of altered neuroplasticity in depression. A review found convergence of three phenomena:The conclusion is that disrupted neuroplasticity is an underlying feature of depression, and is reversed by antidepressants.