Concepts

Neuroplasticity

The nervous system can change with development, experience and altered demands.

Definition

Neuroplasticity is the capacity of the nervous system to change its organization or functioning in relation to experience, development or injury.

How to understand it

Plasticity can refer to changes at different levels, including connections between neurons and patterns of activity across networks. These levels should not be collapsed. A change in performance does not identify a cellular mechanism, and a difference in a brain image does not by itself tell us exactly what changed biologically.

Experience-related change does not imply unlimited capacity or guaranteed recovery. The type of experience, the nervous system involved and the outcome measured matter. Training studies can demonstrate particular changes while leaving broader transfer uncertain. The useful question is what changed, under what conditions and with what evidence.

Evidence: (Spielman et al., 2020); (Draganski et al., 2004)

Learning an unfamiliar coordination skill

Teaching scenario

Imagine researchers compare volunteers practicing a new hand-coordination sequence with a matched comparison group. They assess the practiced sequence, an unrelated skill and a measure of brain function before and after training. Better practiced performance would show learning; a reliable neural change would support a plasticity claim at the measured level. Neither result alone would prove new neurons were created or that every cognitive skill improved. The hypothetical study separates behavioral improvement, neural measurement and transfer rather than treating them as interchangeable.

Constructed for learning. This scenario is not a report of an empirical finding or a diagnosis.

Common confusion: Neurogenesis

Neurogenesis is production of new neurons; neuroplasticity includes many other forms of nervous-system change.

Evidence: (Spielman et al., 2020); (Draganski et al., 2004)

Limits of the concept

  • Plasticity is not a promise that every injury or impairment can be reversed.
  • Change can support unhelpful patterns as well as useful skills, and broad training transfer requires separate evidence.

Evidence: (Spielman et al., 2020); (Draganski et al., 2004)

Textbook connection

Direct coveragePsychology 2e: 3.4 The Brain and Spinal Cord

This section directly introduces or explains the concept.

Supplementary concepts may extend beyond this section. The source notes below identify the evidence for those details.

Related concepts

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Sources and inspection notes

Checked October 21, 2026. An inspection date is not a source publication date. Definitions and scenarios on this page are original teaching explanations.

  1. Draganski, B., Gaser, C., Busch, V., Schuierer, G., Bogdahn, U., & May, A. (2004). Neuroplasticity: Changes in grey matter induced by training. Nature, 427(6972), 311–312. https://doi.org/10.1038/427311aConsulted sourceSupplementary conceptual evidence

    Draganski and colleagues (2004), original study bibliographic record verified. PubMed has no abstract; Nature indexed abstract describes selective transient training-related structural change. No cellular mechanism, effect size or broad transfer claim inferred. Source checked 21 October 2026.

  2. Spielman, R. M., Jenkins, W. J., & Lovett, M. D. (2020). Psychology 2e. OpenStax. https://openstax.org/books/psychology-2e/pages/3-4-the-brain-and-spinal-cordIntroductory textbook explanation

    This section directly introduces or explains the concept. Section opened and title verified on 21 October 2026.