Cortical rewiring and information storage
Abstract
Current thinking about long-term memory in the cortex is focused on changes in the strengths of connections between neurons. But ongoing structural plasticity in the adult brain, including synapse formation/elimination and remodelling of axons and dendrites, suggests that memory could also depend on learning-induced changes in the cortical `wiring diagram'. Given that the cortex is sparsely connected, wiring plasticity could provide a substantial boost in storage capacity, although at a cost of more elaborate biological machinery and slower learning.
- Publication:
-
Nature
- Pub Date:
- October 2004
- DOI:
- Bibcode:
- 2004Natur.431..782C