Juliana began taking violin lessons as a young child. As a teenager, she participated in a research study in which MRI scans of teenagers who had played the violin for several years were compared to MRI scans of other teenagers who had never played a musical instrument. The MRI scans of the teenage violinists showed that brain regions devoted to control of thefine muscles of the hands and fingers were larger in the teenage musicians than in the nonmusicians. This example illustratesthe important phenomenon of:

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The example illustrates structural plasticity, as the brain regions responsible for hand and finger control changed in size due to Juliana's long-term violin practice. Structural plasticity refers to changes in the physical structure of the brain in response to experience. Functional plasticity (A) refers to changes in how the brain functions in response to experience, such as changes in the activation of specific brain regions during a task. Lateralization of function (C) refers to the specialization of different brain regions for different tasks, such as language processing being primarily in the left hemisphere. Myelin regrowth (D) refers to the repair of the protective coating around nerve fibers in the brain and is not directly related to the example given.

Juliana Began Taking Violin Lessons as a Young Child