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.

  • News & Views
  • Published:

HISTORICAL NEWS AND VIEWS: PLASTICITY

Practice makes plasticity

Landmark papers in 2005 and 2009 provided the first evidence of links between development, training, and white-matter plasticity in humans, contributing to a shift in our understanding of brain wiring that has inspired fundamental research into the role of genes, the environment, and the mechanisms underlying training-related plasticity.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

Purchase on Springer Link

Instant access to full article PDF

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Fig. 1

References

  1. Kolb, B. & Gibb, R. Cortex 58, 251–260 (2014).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Bengtsson, S. L. et al. Nat. Neurosci. 8, 1148–1150 (2005).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Scholz, J., Klein, M. C., Behrens, T. E. & Johansen-Berg, H. Nat. Neurosci. 12, 1370–1371 (2009).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Sampaio-Baptista, C. & Johansen-Berg, H. Neuron 96, 1239–1251 (2017).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Imfeld, A., Oechslin, M. S., Meyer, M., Loenneker, T. & Jancke, L. Neuroimage 46, 600–607 (2009).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Wenger, E., Brozzoli, C., Lindenberger, U. & Lövdén, M. Trends Cogn. Sci. 21, 930–939 (2017).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Knudsen, E. I. J. Cogn. Neurosci. 16, 1412–1425 (2004).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Hyde, K. L. et al. J. Neurosci. 29, 3019–3025 (2009).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Steele, C. J., Bailey, J. A., Zatorre, R. J. & Penhune, V. B. J. Neurosci. 33, 1282–1290 (2013).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Zatorre, R. J. Science 342, 585–589 (2013).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. Gabrieli, J. D. E., Ghosh, S. S. & Whitfield-Gabrieli, S. Neuron 85, 11–26 (2015).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  12. Ullén, F., Hambrick, D. Z. & Mosing, M. A. Psychol. Bull. 142, 427–446 (2016).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Zatorre, R. J., Fields, R. D. & Johansen-Berg, H. Nat. Neurosci. 15, 528–536 (2012).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  14. Tardif, C. L. et al. Neuroimage 131, 55–72 (2016).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Draganski, B., Kherif, F. & Lutti, A. Front. Hum. Neurosci. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2014.00380 (2014).

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Robert J. Zatorre.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Steele, C.J., Zatorre, R.J. Practice makes plasticity. Nat Neurosci 21, 1645–1646 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41593-018-0280-4

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41593-018-0280-4

This article is cited by

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