Table Of ContentNEUROPLASTICITY
The MIT Press Essential Knowledge Series
Auctions, Timothy P. Hubbard and Harry J. Paarsch UnderstandingBeliefs, Nils J. Nilsson Cloud Computing,
Nayan Ruparelia Computing: A Concise History, Paul E. Ceruzzi The Conscious Mind, Zoltan L. Torey
Crowdsourcing, Daren C. Brabham Free Will, Mark Balaguer
Information and the Modern Corporation, James W. Cortada Intellectual Property Strategy, John Palfrey The
Internet of Things, Samuel Greengard Memes in Digital Culture, Limor Shifman Metadata, Jeffrey
Pomerantz
MOOCs, Jonathan Haber
Neuroplasticity, Moheb Costandi Open Access, Peter Suber
Paradox, Margaret Cuonzo
Self-Tracking, Gina Neff and Dawn Nafus Waves, Frederic Raichlen
NEUROPLASTICITY
MOHEB COSTANDI
The MIT Press Cambridge, Massachusetts London, England
© 2016 Massachusetts Institute of Technology All rights reserved. No part of this book may be
reproduced in any form by any electronic or mechanical means (including photocopying, recording, or
information storage and retrieval) without permission in writing from the publisher.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Costandi, Moheb.
Title: Neuroplasticity / Moheb Costandi.
Description: Cambridge, MA : The MIT Press, 2016. | Series: The MIT Press essential knowledge series |
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2016002722 | ISBN 9780262529334 (pbk. : alk. paper) Subjects: LCSH:
Neuroplasticity. | Neural transmission. | Nervous system—Physiology.
Classification: LCC QP364.5 .C67 2016 | DDC 573.854—dc23 LC record available at
http://lccn.loc.gov/2016002722 ISBN: 978-0-26252933-4
EPUB 3.0
CONTENTS
Series Foreword
Preface
1 Introduction
2 Sensory Substitution
3 Developmental Plasticity
4 Synaptic Plasticity
5 Adult Neurogenesis
6 Brain Training
7 Nerve Injury and Brain Damage
8 Addiction and Pain
9 Lifelong Brain Changes
10 Conclusion
Notes
Glossary
Further Reading
Index
SERIES FOREWORD
The MIT Press Essential Knowledge series offers accessible, concise, beautifully
produced pocket-size books on topics of current interest. Written by leading
thinkers, the books in this series deliver expert overviews of subjects that range
from the cultural and the historical to the scientific and the technical.
In today’s era of instant information gratification, we have ready access to
opinions, rationalizations, and superficial descriptions. Much harder to come
by is the foundational knowledge that informs a principled understanding of
the world. Essential Knowledge books fill that need. Synthesizing specialized
subject matter for nonspecialists and engaging critical topics through
fundamentals, each of these compact volumes offers readers a point of access
to complex ideas.
Bruce Tidor
Professor of Biological Engineering and Computer Science Massachusetts Institute of
Technology
Preface
In recent years, researchers have made major advances in their understanding
of how the brain works. Neuroscience offers both promises and perils, so public
interest in it has grown enormously, because of the potential and promises that
it offers, and one neuroscientific concept in particular has captured the public
imagination: neuroplasticity, or change in the nervous system.
Sixty years ago, the idea that nervous tissue can change was anathema to
neuroscience. It was widely believed that the mature brain is a fixed structure
and, therefore, that “you can’t teach an old dog new tricks.” This dogma has
since been overturned by a huge body of research which shows not only that
the brain can change, but also that it changes continuously throughout life, in
one way or another, in response to everything we do and every experience we
have.
Neuroplasticity is a catch-all term referring to the many different ways in
which the nervous system can change. It is ill-defined by neuroscientists, who
use it to describe a wide variety of phenomena. Among the general public, the
concept is generally misunderstood, and misconceptions about what
neuroplasticity is, and what it is capable of, are rife.
This book summarizes essential knowledge about neuroplasticity for the
general reader, focusing on key experimental findings and the methods and
technologies used to obtain them, and on how our thinking about the brain has
evolved over time.
Each chapter of the book is devoted to research into one particular mode of
neuroplasticity. After offering a historical perspective, it describes the changes
that occur during brain development; the changes that occur in the brains of
blind and deaf people; the mechanisms of synaptic plasticity that underlie
learning; the formation of new cells in the adult brain; how different types of
training, such as learning to play a musical instrument or speak a foreign
language, alter the brain; how neuroplasticity goes awry in addiction and pain
states; and the key brain changes associated with different stages of life. The
concluding chapter summarizes key points, describes several newly discovered
forms of plasticity, and explores some of the many questions that remain to be
answered.
The mechanisms of neuroplasticity are so many, and so diverse, that one
could not hope to cover the whole subject in such a small book. Nevertheless,
this volume should give the reader a good overview of what we know about
neuroplasticity, as well as a solid understanding of some key neuroscientific
principles, knowledge of important historical developments in the field, and
some insight into the scientific process.
