What is the role of myelin and why is its formation so important?

[MichelleVo]

Am I the only one who is finding it extremely difficult to grasp the concept of Developmental Plasticity?

My question is - What is the role of myelin and why is its formation so important?

An answer that is easy to understand would be great!

[Russ]

The shortest answer is that myelin allows your nerves to signal efficiently and appropriately and its formation is so important because without it your nerve signals would become lost and confused

I can add more detail if you need it I guess.

[MichelleVo]

Yes, could you please add more detail!

[Russ]

Tell me what your understanding is and what it is that's confusing you, rather than me just spitting out random facts about it

[Felicity Wishes]

Myelin speeds up the process as well.

[Biceps]

i know this from a biological perspective so here is my explanation: Myelin is a lipid produced by oligodendrocytes or shwann cells. Myelin provides an insulation of the ion flow (action potential) inside the neuron and prevents it from flowing outside. It also speeds up current by having small nodes on the end of each section of myelin with sodium and potassium channels.

[joseph95]

I'm not sure if we need to know much if anything about myelin for developmental plasticity, isn't it really just synapse formation etc?

[Genericname2365]

I'm not sure if we need to know much if anything about myelin for developmental plasticity, isn't it really just synapse formation etc?

Yeah I've seen nothing to suggest that it's something we need to know.

[brenden]

Not in Grivas. If the dot point on the study design is role of the neuron in reference to learning then I suppose it's theoretically examinable however I doubt it's appearance. I think the TSFX winter lecturer mentioned it for like 10 seconds as an aside but that's all I've heard from it.

[MichelleVo]

Well, I already know that myelin is a fatty substance that coats some axons and protects them from interference from other neurons. However, I don't think that my definition is very well worded!

Also, from what I gathered (mainly from the Oxford Psych textbook and here) - I know that the role of myelin is to protect and insulate neurons, it also aids the transmission of impulses from one neuron to the next.
Therefore, I'm assuming the formation of myelin (myelination) is important because it allows the brain's signals to propagate faster and with less signal loss. In other words, myelin enables the transmission of signals between neurons to speed up, which can lead to further brain specialization.

Am I right? I don't think I have actually addressed the question of why myelin is so important.
How could I improve this answer if it were to appear in the exam?

[MichelleVo]

Also, I think we should have some level of understanding of myelination, as it is a part of developmental plasticity.
Although I didn't check the study design, so I could be wrong. I might be going into way too much detail!

[paulsterio]

Myelin allows the action potential to be propgated through the neuron at a much faster rate. Evidence of this is that the A-delta fibre will transmit pain signals much faster than the C fibre, the former happens to be myelinated.

[MichelleVo]

That just confuses me even more! How do you determine what is A-fibre and C-fibre?
It doesn't mention this in any of the VCE Psychology textbooks - not the Nelson, Grivas or Oxford!

[Russ]

You don't need to know what they are, but in case you're curious they're just different types of nerve fibre, with different sizes and different myelination status. This means that they signal differently, which is evidence in favour of myelination having that effect.

I think your answer to myelin function is pretty good, that it acts as a support network that enables neural signalling and brain development and so forth

[joseph95]

That just confuses me even more! How do you determine what is A-fibre and C-fibre?
It doesn't mention this in any of the VCE Psychology textbooks - not the Nelson, Grivas or Oxford!

It has hardly anything to do with the larger scope of Unit 4 Psychology. If your textbook says that myelin aids transmission of messages between neurons, than that is important because developmental plasticity involves wiring neural networks etc.

Myelin is not going to be on the exam or your sacs or whatever so stop fretting, and worry about something that actually may be examinable lol.