Running head: RESILIENCY AND NEUROPLASTICITY

Resiliency and Neuroplasticity: Why it is Important?

Yuliya S. Stolbova
Salt Lake Community College

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Resilience, as defined by Wikipedia, is the individuals ability to properly adapt to stress

and adversity (wikepedia.org, nd). Neuroplasticity is also often referred to as brain plasticity and
refers to the change in neural pathways within our brain. This happens due to changes in things
such as behavior, the environment, neural processes, emotion, thinking and more (wikepedia.org,
nd)
A Learning Machine: Plasticity and Change Throughtout Life, written by Leah Nelson,
spoke about the brains ability to bend, stretch, expand, and specialize itself in response to
challenges (2006). It discussed several different studies conducted specifically to find out the
function of neuroplasticity, one of which was conducted by Michael Merzenich who suggested
that out brain can focus on certain skills that become useful in everyday life. These skills are
different for everyone but help focus attention of specific things, and usually are developed
around adulthood. A study conducted by Walter Mischel was also mentioned. This had to do
with gratification and how learning to delay this gratification can help children in their later
years (Leah, 2006). This being important for neuroplasticity as our brain is molded from the very
beginning. Sir Michael Rutter was yet another man mentioned within the article; he discussed
how neuroplasticity differs from person to person. Due to our experiences and individual
differences the human brain will always be molding new passage ways.
A Question of Resilience, by Emily Bazelon, is an article about how genes play a huge
role in resilience. This adaptive characteristic is severely important for the people who have
suffered through traumatic experience, such as war sexual abuse or other trauma (Bazelon,
2006). Having this resilience gives any individual the power to bounce back from a terrible past,
without it the individuals may suffer from depression, depression then causing several other

RESILIENCY AND NEUROPLASTICITY

problems, such as unemployment, struggling relationships, poor health and substance abuse
(Bazelon, 2006).
There are several studying discusses within the article written by Bazelon, which all seem
to indicate that resiliency and genetics are related. The first one discussed come from the GxE
research center, which was opened by Sir Michael Rutter. There they discovered the relationship
between the gene, 5-HTT, and resiliency where a person with two long alleles of the gene are
more protected while a person with one short allele seems to be less likely to bounce back from
trauma (Bazelon, 2006). Stephen Suomi conducted another experiment to support this finding,
by using newborn Rhesus monkeys to stimulate what children experience in abusive homes. He
found that monkeys with two long alleles of the 5-HTT gene were more likely to show
resilience.
After reading these articles and defining resilience and neuroplasticity I find it
interesting to know that our brain is constantly reacting to everything around us, and that this is a
never ending process. I also find it interesting to know that there are genetic factors that play into
human resiliency being that it would be fascinating to know what alleles I have of this gene. I
imagine several others would be interested to know as well. This could determine if you have the
skills needed to bounce back from a traumatic event or if you have to work harder to not suffer
from the negative effects. As mentioned in A Question of Resilience this may or may not lead to
genetic engineering, which may not be such a terrible thing if it means having the ability to
bounce back.

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References
Bazelon, E. (2006). A question of resilience. The New York Times, 1-8.
Nelson, L. (2006). A learning machine: Plasticity and change throughout life. APS Observer, 2728.
Neuroplasticity. (n.d.). In Wikepedia. Retrieved from
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neuroplasticity
Psychological Resilience. (n.d.). In Wikipedia. Retrieved from
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychological_resilience