Editing Neuroplasticity, Learning, and the Lifelong Brain (section)

== <span style="color: #FFFFFF;">Remembering</span> ==
* '''Neuroplasticity''' — The brain's ability to reorganize by forming new neural connections throughout life — in response to learning, experience, injury, or environment.
* '''Hebbian Learning''' — "Neurons that fire together wire together" — synapses strengthen when pre- and post-synaptic neurons are co-active.
* '''Long-Term Potentiation (LTP)''' — The cellular mechanism of learning and memory: repeated stimulation strengthens synaptic connections — first demonstrated by Bliss & Lømo (1973).
* '''Synaptic Pruning''' — The elimination of unused synaptic connections — critical in childhood and adolescence for refining neural circuits.
* '''Critical Periods''' — Windows of heightened plasticity when specific experiences have outsized effects on brain development: language acquisition, visual development, social bonding.
* '''Adult Neurogenesis''' — The generation of new neurons in the adult brain — confirmed in the hippocampus (dentate gyrus) — controversial for its extent and functional significance.
* '''The London Taxi Driver Study''' — (Maguire, 2000). London cabbies showed enlarged posterior hippocampi proportional to years of driving — direct evidence of experience-dependent structural change.
* '''Constraint-Induced Movement Therapy''' — A rehabilitation technique exploiting neuroplasticity: forcing use of a stroke-affected limb by constraining the healthy one.
* '''Cognitive Reserve''' — The brain's resilience to damage, built by education, bilingualism, and cognitive engagement — delays dementia symptom onset.
* '''Use-Dependent Plasticity''' — Regions representing heavily used functions expand; unused regions shrink — the brain is a use-it-or-lose-it organ.
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