Experience shapes the structure and function of the brain.
Given that experience can take many forms, it should not be surprising that morphological and functional changes also exhibit varied patterns. For example, it has recently been reported that motor skill learning is accompanied by increases in the density of Purkinje cell synapses in the cerebellum of the rat. In contrast, exercise, in the absence of learning, produces increases in the density of capillary innervation of the cerebellum. My laboratory is interested in how these plastic changes, individually and in concert, facilitate behavioral adaptation. Alterations in glutamate transmission in cerebellum following damage to primary motor cortex.