Watch the following video about Jodie Miller, a young girl who suffered from intense epileptic seizures when she was three years old. She lost control of the left side of her body and had the right side of her brain removed to treat the seizures. Instead of completely losing control of the left side of her body (which is controlled by the right side of her brain), her left hemisphere took control. Please watch youtube video below
Brain Plasticity. Discovery Channel, 2007.Accessed August 8, 2016 at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u2c-WHVxcfY
1. How would you define "neural plasticity"?
2. How can plasticity help us to understand why people regain intellectual functions lost by brain damage?
3. Based on your readings from this module about brain development, why do think Jodi was so successful at regaining lost cognitive functions after surgery ? Why is plasticity variable at different stages of life?
4. Another phenomena known as "phantom limbs" also involves brain plasticity. Research this phenomena and describe how neural plasticity leads to the development of this condition. [HINT: It involves the somatosensory cortex]