ABSTRACT
Some neural pathways establish connections during development that subsequently remain unaltered. These pathways are often said to be hard wired and the generic term for those processes that ensure the pathway is properly connected is specificity. However, pathways subject to continual re-wiring, either during development or as a result of experience, are referred to as plastic, and the re-wiring processes described as plasticity. Developmental plasticity is wiring that is conditional on early sensory experience and shapes subsequent perception. Learning is also plasticity and is the acquisition of reproducible alterations in behavior as a result of particular experiences. The storage of the altered behavior over time is memory. In animals, learning and memory can only be tested operationally by recall, in which the previously learned behavior is elicited by the appropriate stimuli.
