Neural plasticity and exaptation Neural plasticity and exaptation. John R. Skoyles . Examples of such exaptations, he suggests, are language, religion, fine arts, writing and reading. Gould, however, is not a neuroscientist. For example, the connections between the eye, the lateral geniculate nucleus and primary visual cortex might suggest that neural circuits in the latter have been wired by evolution for sight.
Neural plasticity is an important adaptation.
Like other tissue plasticities, such as osteogenic plasticity, its adaptive advantage probably links to fine tuning development. Thus, for example, the number of neural circuits in the right primary motor cortex devoted to the left hand cannot be evolutionary known in advance of an individual making a special demand for left hand skills such as required for piano playing. Neural plasticity would seem prima facia to be an important adaptation of the brain. At least for the human brain, it is also an important exaptation . Gould links the human brain with exaptation with its massive expansion.