Recovery from brain damage (Essay Sample)

Psychology Name Institution Subject Date Psychology Recovery from brain damage The Kennard principle argues that an organism's recovery process from a brain injury is as swift and great as the younger the organism is. A negative linear relationship is found between an organism's age at which its brain is injured and the result of the injury. This suggests that a maturing brain has an easier recovery process from an injury than an already developed one (Elliott, 2020). This is, however, not true in all cases, and the young at some time have a more difficult brain recovery process from damage than the adults, who have fully developed brains. Normally, the development process of a brain has been protracted and complex, happening from the third week of a baby's gestational period to early maturity. This is always subject to influence from endogenous and exogenous factors brought about by gene expression molecular events in response to environmental inputs. Neurons are released to predetermined areas, where they connect with identified neuron groups to form networks of neurons capable of subsuming the future functions of the brain. Based on diverse genetically predetermined stages, cortical layers and brain structures show various development timetables individually, involving overlapping complex processes that can be highly affected by intrinsic factors such as trauma and extrinsic factors such as the environment (Nelson et al., 2019). If brain damage occurs at this stage, causing even a little disruption to the complicated and overlapping brain development process, it may lead to fatal brain challenges. The famous prenatal period is associated with unsophisticated structural formations, and therefore it is characterized by dynamic growth activity. Processes such as migration, proliferation, synaptogenesis, neurulation, differentiation, dendritic development, and apoptosis alter the primitive neural tube to a sequence of neural systems that comprise the CNS. Suppose by any chance; the brain development process is affected at such a time. It may lead to a significant effect on cerebral development, leading to abnormal brain morphology. In fatal cases, including infection, intrauterine concession, and genetic deviations, abnormal brain morphology can be noticed at a macroscopic level (Nelson et al., 2019). The postnatal brain development entails the CNS elaborations, differentiation primarily and maturing in the progression towards the early adulthood stage. It follows a sequence set before, just as the prenatal development process. The early development stage in the postnatal development stage involves rapid synaptogenesis, development of the local circuitry, growth of the short cortico- cortical networks, and the myelination process. These processes progress in a highly hierarchical manner; their anterior regions are the last to mature. From the age of 8 months to around two years, rapid synaptogenesis and dendritic growth occur with a selective elimination following them, leading to higher levels than adulthood. The particular pruning process allows the CNS structures to be affected by experience and environmental factors. Growth spurts in dendrites are displayed from 16 months to 30 months, which leads to adult maturity (Nelson et al...