On the
developmental side, researchers now understand the critical role that sensory input plays in shaping the
wiring of the brain from the earliest days. Blakemore discussed work in his lab
on the development of neural wiring in mice. Researchers have known since the
1960s that the neurons connected to the ultrasensitive whiskers of mice align
themselves in a format called “barrel fields.” Each of these barrel fields is
connected to a single whisker, although how or why they influence function is
unknown. Blakemore showed that if you removed a clump of whiskers at an early
age, the segment of the brain linked to that area never develops the barrel
structure.
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