Damaged Brain Able to Rapidly Recover
In stroke victims, activity in undamaged parts of the brain increases. This effect is especially recognizable in patients struggling in their recoveries. It is not clear if this effect is a cause or an effects of slow recovery. Researchers lead by Dr. Jacinta O'Shea at the Department of Experimental Psychology and the Center for Functional MRI of the Brain investigated the phenomena by stimulating brain damage in healthy volunteers and having them perform various tasks.
After brain damage was simulated, participants were slower at choosing the correct response. However, after several minutes, performance was back to normal. Dr. O'Shea said that this "suggested to us that the brain might have reorganized itself to compensate for the interference."
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