Neuroplasticity Flashcards
7 cards from real RTT practice questions. Tap to flip, then mark Knew It or Still Learning — missed cards come back until you master them.
Read the first 7 Neuroplasticity flashcards as text
Which neuroplastic process allows RTT to help an adult client overcome a belief formed in childhood, even decades later?
Answer: Lifelong neuroplasticity allows neural pathway modification at any age
The brain retains neuroplasticity throughout life, meaning beliefs encoded in childhood can be updated by forming stronger competing neural pathways.
RTT's transformational commands use present-tense, positive language. Neurologically, this is effective because:
Answer: The brain represents negatives by first activating the positive concept it then suppresses
The brain processes a negated concept (e.g., 'don't be afraid') by first activating the fear network, so positive present-tense framing bypasses this and directly strengthens desired pathways.
A client listens to their RTT recording every morning for 21 days. Which neurobiological mechanism most directly explains the deepening effect?
Answer: Myelination of new neural pathways increases transmission speed and automaticity
Repeated activation of new neural pathways triggers myelination — fatty sheath formation around axons — which speeds neural transmission and makes new thought patterns increasingly automatic.
In RTT, why is it important for clients to understand the ROOT CAUSE of their issue during the session?
Answer: Insight activates prefrontal processing that can recontextualize and weaken the emotional charge of old memories
When a client gains insight into why they formed a belief, the prefrontal cortex engages to reappraise the memory, reducing its emotional charge through a process called cognitive reappraisal.
Which concept explains why an RTT client may feel physical sensations (tightness, warmth) when accessing and releasing an old emotional memory?
Answer: Somatic markers — the body stores emotional memories in physical sensation networks
Somatic markers are bodily sensations linked to emotional memories through interoceptive neural networks, which is why emotional processing can trigger measurable physical sensations.
RTT uses the concept that the subconscious mind operates like a computer program. Which neuroplasticity finding best supports this metaphor?
Answer: Repeated experiences encode automatic, unconscious behavioral scripts in neural circuitry
Repeated experiences encode habitual response patterns in basal ganglia and limbic circuits that run automatically and unconsciously, mirroring how a computer runs background programs.
After RTT, a client reports that their old limiting belief 'no longer feels true.' Neurologically, this most likely reflects:
Answer: New stronger neural pathways that compete with and inhibit the old belief pathway
Neuroplastic change creates new dominant pathways that inhibit the old limiting belief circuit, making the old thought feel unfamiliar and untrue rather than erasing it.