Plasticity is how the brain is able to learn and adapt to environments. It exists throughout a person's lifetime, though it tends to be more active in early development when the brain is still forming. Plasticity is one of the key concepts within behavioral neuroscience that affects nearly all systems of the brain and brain functions.

Plasticity

The brain is a highly complex organ that develops in an orderly fashion, as directed by genes and the environment. There are four main stages of brain development that describe how the brain changes in morphology throughout prenatal life. Within these four main stages of brain morphological development, there are six stages describing the development of the nervous system that enable the brain to change in morphology. (Page 194 has images of the morphological changes of the developing brain). 

Stages of Brain Development

Experience and the environment regulate gene expression in brain development by helping to shape behaviors and a person's surroundings and vice versa. This is called epigenetics.

Genes and Experience Guide Brain Development

- visual deprivation

- early exposure to visual patterns

Individual Differences in Experience Affect Brain Development 

- Memory Impairment

- Alzheimer's Disease 


Brain Changes Due to Aging

The process in which physical/behavioral changes of a population occur over long periods of time. Evolution is a scientific theory that for over the last 150 years, scientists have gathered an overwhelming amount of evidence that supports this theory.  

Evolution 

- Development begins from common structure (dorsal tube)
- Symmetry within brain structures (bilateral symmetry) 
- Construction of spinal nerves with spinal cord (segmentation)
- Communication between brain and spinal cord (hierarchical control) 
- Differentiated neural systems 
- Localized functions

Common Neural Features in Vertebrates

Abnormalities in the development of the nervous system that are influenced by both our genes and the environment. Developmental disorders commonly manifest as behavioral abnormalities.

Developmental Disorders

- Evolution of the Brain and Behavior
- Life-Span Development of the Brain and Behavior

California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo

- Biological Foundations of Behavior
- Evolution and Development of the Nervous System
- Perception and Action
- Regulation and Behavior
- Emotions and Mental Disorders
- Cognitive Neuroscience
- Scope and Outlook

Focuses of Behavioral Neuroscience

Breedlove, S. & Watson, N. (2017). Behavioral neuroscience, eighth edition. Oxford University Press.

Behavioral Neuroscience 8th Edition

The study of the physiological basis for cognition.

Cognitive Neuroscience

- Viewpoints of the Biology of Behavior
- Approaches Relating Brain and Behavior
- The History of Research on the Brain and Behavior

Scope and Outlook of Behavioral Neuroscience

- Emotion, Aggression, Stress
- Psychopathology

Neuroscience of Emotions and Mental Disorders

- Evolutionary, Hormonal and Neural bases (sex)
- Homeostasis
- Biological Rhythms, Sleep, Dreaming

Biological Regulation and Behavior

Evolution and Development of the Nervous System

- Sensory Processing, Touch, Pain
- Hearing, Vestibular Perception
- Taste
- Smell
- Vision
- Motor Control and Plasticity

Neuroscience of Perception and Action

The study of the biological mechanisms that underlie behavior, including its physiological and anatomical foundations, is fundamental to many areas of psychology. Key areas of study include functional neural anatomy, neurophysiology, neurotransmitters and neuropharmacology, and the role of hormones and the brain.

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