Babies who experience stroke can flip their language center to the opposite, uninjured side of the brain, according to a study of 12 perinatal stroke survivors presented at the American Association for the Advancement of Science annual conference in Austin, Texas.
Using imaging, Georgetown University researchers found children who had suffered strokes as babies used the right side of the brain for language—a mirror opposite of the normal left-sided area.
"These young brains were very plastic, meaning they could relocate language to a healthy area, (but) it doesn't mean that new areas can be located willy-nilly on the right side,” lead researcher Elissa Newport, PhD, told BBC. "We believe there are very important constraints to where functions can be relocated. Each function, like language or spatial skills, has a particular region that can take over if its primary brain area is injured. This is a very important discovery that may have implications in the rehabilitation of adult stroke survivors."
The study will be extended to look at whether functions other than language can be relocated, and to what regions of the brain, according to BBC.
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Daniel joined TriMed’s Chicago editorial team in 2017 as a Cardiovascular Business writer. He previously worked as a writer for daily newspapers in North Dakota and Indiana.