Cortical Plasticity in the Adult Human Brain

The idea that the cerebral cortex of the adult brain is capable of massive reorganization, once virtually unthinkable, is now firmly established. The past 20 years have produced myriad demonstrations of such plasticity, first in animals and then in humans. We now understand much about which specific areas of the cortex are capable of plasticity, what sensory or motor activity is necessary to evoke cortical remapping, and whether or not the changes are functionally valuable. In this chapter, we review recent findings on plasticity in the motor, somatosensory, visual, auditory, and olfactory cortices of the adult human brain. We consider possible mechanisms for these changes, address the implications of these findings for the amelioration of stroke, developmental disabilities, and other disorders, and make suggestions for the direction of future research.