Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

Neuroscience

Plasticity and its limits

Nature volume 435, pages 288–289 (2005)Cite this article

How much can the adult brain compensate for injury to the senses of touch or vision, for example? The answer from the latest results on the visual system, involving damage to the retina, seems to be ‘very little’.

Many sensory systems are characterized by connections from receptor surfaces, such as the retina or skin, in which the relationship between neighbouring inputs is preserved. The resulting ‘topological maps’ are also commonly maintained in subsequent projections between sensory areas within the brain. Early work showed that these map-like projections can adapt to the loss of input from part of the receptor sheet by rearranging input lines, with the silenced brain areas regaining responsiveness to remaining parts of the sheet.

Your institute does not have access to this article

Relevant articles

Open Access articles citing this article.

Access options

Buy article

Get time limited or full article access on ReadCube.

$32.00

Buy

All prices are NET prices.

Figure 1: Representation of fingers in the monkey somatosensory cortex.

References

  1. Smirnakis, S. M. et al. Nature 435, 300–307 (2005).

    ADS  CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Basser, L. S. Brain 85, 427–460 (1962).

    CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Curtiss, S. & de Bode, S. Brain Lang. 86, 193–206 (2003).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Merzenich, M. M. et al. Neuroscience 8, 35–55 (1983).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Gaze, R. M. Br. Med. Bull. 30, 116–121 (1974).

    CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Pons, T. et al. Science 252, 1857–1860 (1991).

    ADS  CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Kaas, J. H. et al. Science 248, 229–231 (1990).

    ADS  CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Gilbert, C. D. & Wiesel, T. N. Nature 356, 150–152 (1992).

    ADS  CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Jain, N., Catania, K. C. & Kaas, J. H. Cereb. Cortex 8, 227–236 (1998).

    CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Qi, H. -X. & Kaas, J. H. J. Comp. Neurol. 477, 172–187 (2004).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Darian-Smith, C. & Gilbert, C. D. J. Neurosci. 15, 1631–1647 (1995).

    CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Chino, Y. M. et al. J. Neurosci. 15, 2417–2433 (1995).

    CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Horton, J. C. & Hocking, D. R. J. Neurosci. 18, 5433–5455 (1998).

    CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Baker, C. I. et al. J. Neurosci. 25, 614–618 (2005).

    CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. the Department of Cognitive Science, University of California at San Diego, La Jolla, 92093-0515, California, USA

    Martin I. Sereno

Authors
  1. Martin I. Sereno
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Sereno, M. Plasticity and its limits. Nature 435, 288–289 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1038/435288a

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/435288a

Further reading

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing