Ontogenetic constraints on neural and behavioral plasticity: evidence from imprinting and face processing

This paper addresses the extent and limits on brain plasticity during development through the detailed study of imprinting in the domestic chick and the development of face processing in human infants. In both of these systems, evidence for constraints on plasticity is reviewed. The first source of constraint comes from the basic architecture of learning mechanisms that support plasticity. With regard to the chick, a specific "Hebbian" model based on the known neural circuitry of the region of the brain involved is presented and discussed. In human infants, a more abstract model inspired by cortical circuitry is mentioned. The second source of constraint comes from biases on the nature of the stimuli selected for attention by the young organism. Both in the chick and the human there is evidence for a subcortical brain system which orients their attention toward conspecifics, and particularly to their faces. It is argued that these systems tutor, or bias the input to, the more plastic learning systems.