BEGIN:VCALENDAR
PRODID:-//Grails iCalendar plugin//NONSGML Grails iCalendar plugin//EN
VERSION:2.0
CALSCALE:GREGORIAN
METHOD:PUBLISH
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTAMP:20260606T204812Z
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/Rome:20130703T173000
DTEND;TZID=Europe/Rome:20130703T183000
SUMMARY:Neural Plasticity\, Neuronal Recycling and Niche Construction
UID:20260613T105353Z-iCalPlugin-Grails@philevents-web-bd7db559-gt5qm
TZID:Europe/Rome
LOCATION:via Festa del Perdono 7\, Milano\, Italy
DESCRIPTION:Abstract:\n
\nStanislas Dehaene presents a compelling account of how the brain learns to read. Central to this account is his neuronal recycling hypothesis: Neural circuitry is capable of being &lsquo\;recycled&rsquo\; or converted to a different function that is cultural in nature. The original function of the circuitry is not entirely lost and constrains what the brain can learn. Dehaene contrasts neuronal recycling with a naï\;ve model of the brain as a general learning device that is unconstrained in what it can learn. He is clearly concerned that the naï\;ve model results in cultural relativism. Consequently a tension develops in Dehaene&rsquo\;s account of the role of plasticity in the acquisition of language. I argue that the functional and structural changes in the brain that Dehaene documents in great detail are driven by learning and that this learning driven plasticity does not commit us to a naï\;ve model of the brain. Dehaene argues that functional plasticity is constrained by existing cortical functions\, however another way to think of culturally acquired functions\, driven by learning\, is that they extend latent potential in cortical circuitry in a direction that was not determined by evolution. Finally\, I suggest\, the neural niche co-evolves with the environmental niche in a way that does not undermine the core ideas of NR\, but which is quite different from the models of cognitive and cultural evolution provided by evolutionary psychology and epidemiology.
ORGANIZER:
METHOD:PUBLISH
END:VEVENT
END:VCALENDAR