Posted by alexandra_k on September 25, 2013, at 19:10:56
In reply to The Myth of Neurogenesis?, posted by doxogenic boy on September 25, 2013, at 16:39:11
I'm not entirely sure...
I hear people can do surprisingly well on surprisingly little brain (e.g., after stroke). but it does depend on *which parts* they lost, rather.
New neurones is one thing...
New neural connections (e.g., dendrites, terminal branches) is something else...
More receptor sites is one thing...
Levels of neurotransmitter is another...We don't really know very much at all about any one of those. Even less about how one of those interacts with other aspects of that...
Brains go through 'proliferate and prune' cycles when we are very young. Growing lots of connections and then culling a lot of those connections. The culling part of the process seems every bit as important as the growing part of the process. Which is just to say that it isn't so much HOW MANY neurones or neural connections you have... But more something about the structural arrangement.
So...
I don't know what (if anything) to make of this finding (even if it is true)
poster:alexandra_k
thread:1051299
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20130828/msgs/1051306.html