Reorganization of the injured brain: implications for studies of the neural substrate of cognition

TY - JOUR

T1 - Reorganization of the injured brain: implications for studies of the neural substrate of cognition

AU - Mogensen, Jesper

N1 - Received: 03 October 2010; Accepted: 05 January 2011; Published online: 26 January 2011.

PY - 2011

Y1 - 2011

N2 - In the search for a neural substrate of cognitive processes, a frequently utilized method is the scrutiny of post-traumatic symptoms exhibited by individuals suffering focal injury to the brain. For instance, the presence or absence of conscious awareness within a particular domain may, combined with knowledge of which regions of the brain have been injured, provide important data in the search for neural correlates of consciousness. Like all studies addressing the consequences of brain injury, however, such research has to face the fact that in most cases, post-traumatic impairments are accompanied by a " functional recovery" during which symptoms are reduced or eliminated. The apparent contradiction between localization and recovery, respectively, of functions constitutes a problem to almost all aspects of cognitive neuroscience. Several lines of investigation indicate that although the brain remains highly plastic throughout life, the posttraumatic plasticity does not recreate a copy of the neural mechanisms lost to injury. Instead, the uninjured parts of the brain are functionally reorganized in a manner which in spite of not recreating the basic information processing lost to injury is able to allow a more or less complete return of the surface phenomena (including manifestations of consciousness) originally impaired by the trauma. A novel model [the Reorganization of Elementary Functions-model] of these processes is presented and some of its implications discussed relative to studies of the neural substrates of cognition and consciousness.

AB - In the search for a neural substrate of cognitive processes, a frequently utilized method is the scrutiny of post-traumatic symptoms exhibited by individuals suffering focal injury to the brain. For instance, the presence or absence of conscious awareness within a particular domain may, combined with knowledge of which regions of the brain have been injured, provide important data in the search for neural correlates of consciousness. Like all studies addressing the consequences of brain injury, however, such research has to face the fact that in most cases, post-traumatic impairments are accompanied by a " functional recovery" during which symptoms are reduced or eliminated. The apparent contradiction between localization and recovery, respectively, of functions constitutes a problem to almost all aspects of cognitive neuroscience. Several lines of investigation indicate that although the brain remains highly plastic throughout life, the posttraumatic plasticity does not recreate a copy of the neural mechanisms lost to injury. Instead, the uninjured parts of the brain are functionally reorganized in a manner which in spite of not recreating the basic information processing lost to injury is able to allow a more or less complete return of the surface phenomena (including manifestations of consciousness) originally impaired by the trauma. A novel model [the Reorganization of Elementary Functions-model] of these processes is presented and some of its implications discussed relative to studies of the neural substrates of cognition and consciousness.

KW - Faculty of Social Sciences

KW - hjerne

KW - reorganisering

KW - plasticitet

KW - hjerneskade

KW - rehabilitering

KW - funktionel genopretning

KW - funktionel lokalisation

KW - REF-modellen

KW - indlæring

KW - hukommelse

KW - problemløsning

KW - kognition

KW - kognitive modeller

KW - neurale modeller

KW - synapse

KW - synaptisk plasticitet

U2 - 10.3389/fpsyg.2011.00007

DO - 10.3389/fpsyg.2011.00007

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 21713186

SN - 1664-1078

VL - 2:7

SP - 1

EP - 10

JO - Frontiers in Psychology

JF - Frontiers in Psychology

ER -