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According to Lorber, his results suggest there must be a tremendous amount of spare capacity or redundancy in the brain, resulting in the brain being able to reorganize and utilize some cells unaffected by injury, in an attempt to restore function. Blakemore, another British scientist, states that spare capacity is an important quality of the human brain. He says: 'The brain frequently has to cope with minor lesions, and it is crucial that it can overcome these readily.' He believes that this can occur by reorganization of brain tissue, and by reallocation of function.
This process of reorganization seems to be critical to the successful utilization of the spare capacity of the brain. Russian scientist Luria feels that adaptation occurs following injury as a result of the internal reorganization of the parts of the brain unaffected by the damage. As well, the destroyed area can be replaced by another which is still intact, thereby including into the functional system areas that are able to compensate, in one form or another, for the lost element. Luria shows how this can happen by referring to the process of normal development - during the developmental process, the brain matures and higher cortical areas take control. This results in an intensive reorganization of the brain, with the same task being performed by completely different means.
The Importance of Time
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