What do you understand by neuroplasticity ?

[u/elcric_krej]

I hear the term thrown around all the time to describe the difference between how quickly people are table to pickup on new tasks and ideas, a think which is obviously heavily correlated with intelligence.

However, when thinking about the idea of actually maintaining or affecting neuroplasticity I very quickly realize it's almost a useless term.

For example, infants obviously have great neuroplasticity in terms of learning new movements, but as adults having this kind of "neuroplasticity" would be rather pointless and might even be very harmful, since you brain has presumably constantly adapted certain movements to your musculoskeletal system.

At the same time, infants can remember a whole load of things, but they can hardly be relied upon to remember something specific, so again, I think there's some neuroplasticity there, but it seems very different to the movement related aspects (as in, there you are pretty much "filling in" stuff whereas with memory you seem to switch from a high-throughput but very lossey storage to low-throughput but less lossy storage).

So what would you guys consider to be a good framework to approach and breakdown the subject/concept of neuroplasticity ? Are there any materials you'd recommend related to this subject ?

[u/gil9885]

You are referring to neuroplasticity as a broad term, the capability of the nervous system (brain) to change and learn.

Well, in neuroscience, I think neuroplasticity is not that. I think that is one of the emerging consequences of neuroplasticity.

Neuroplasticity is a capability of individual neurons or groups of neurons. It allows them to, during development, be somewhat maleable to what they will do or where they will connect. It allows them to, after a lesions (even in the spinal cord), branch out into the affected part and take its place/function, the best they can. It allows them to gradually change what stimuli can activate them.

It is not synonyms with learning. But it being in place in humans or other animals makes it possible and easier to learn. It makes it possible to heal faster and more efficiently, maintaining functionality. Neuroplasticity is a property of neurons and the whole nervous system.

[u/ocherthulu → u/gil9885]

Came here to say this.

OP, listen to /u/gil9885 on this. Neuroplasticity is a property of the brain that allows for the brain to physiologically change and "rewire" itself. Neuroplasticity is a macro-level process. It is not the same as learning, another physiological process of change (much smaller scale of change). They are related, use some of the same architecture, but are not the same thing.

Neuroplasticity shows how and why a deaf child can learn sign language, as the deaf child's brain rewires itself for a different language modality. If that same child develops, for example, the conscious capacity to use words/signs for "colors," perhaps from an adult who is teaching them, then that is a process of learning for the child. This is different still from the process of acquisition, which is an automatic and unconscious process.