Neuroscientists also theorize that higher forms of learning occur in the cerebral cortex.
Evidence from the study supports that theory. In the study, published in the Oct. 20 issue of Science, Brown University researchers taught rats to reach into a hole in a box to grasp food pellets, a new motor skill for the animals. After five days, the rats were tested. The researchers found that not only had the animals behavior changed, through the learning of a new skill, but that their brains had also changed. Importantly, the overall range of synaptic modification the maximum possible increase or decrease in strength had not changed, said Rioult-Pedotti, a neuroscience investigator.