Environmental
Influences on Cortical Development
Early sensory experience has a significant influence
on brain development. Numerous studies
have documented the neuroanatomical benefits of an
enriched environment. The effects of
enrichment appear to have an especially profound effect on responses in
auditory cortex. We have documented that
evoked potentials of enriched rats (red) are more than twice the size of rats
raised in standard laboratory conditions (blue).
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Brain Lesions and
Experience-Dependent Plasticity