Neuroplasticity is in.
Books tell us about The Brain That Changes Itself or advise us on how to Train Your Mind, Change Your Brain.
Now there's no doubt that the brain is plastic, able to rewire itself in response to damage or training, and that it's more so than was generally believed, say, 20 years ago. It's clearly an important and interesting field, but a little caution is warranted. Neuroplasticity can't fix everything.
If the brain were infinitely plastic, brain damage would be no big deal. You'd get over it pretty quickly, so long as some of your brain was intact and able to rewire itself to compensate. Unfortunately, that's rarely what happens. Well, unfortunately unless you're a neurologist; they'd be out of a job if it were otherwise...
Swiss neurologists Bindschaedler et al have provided a nice example of the limits of neuroplasticity in a new paper: Growing up ...
