Sperry and Hebb: oil and vinegar?
Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 30, 2026

Paired Whole Cell Recordings in Organotypic Hippocampal Slices
Published on: September 28, 2014
1Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, 1 Bungtown Road, Cold Spring Harbor, NY 11724, USA.
Abstract:
The interface between so-called activity-dependent and activity-independent mechanisms of circuit development is discussed here in light of recent findings that question the role of activity in brain development. This debate is presented simplistically here in terms of Sperry's chemoaffinity hypothesis versus Hebb's rules of correlation-based synaptic change, which are often presented as being mutually exclusive - much like oil and vinegar.
Related Concept Videos
NMR Spectroscopy: Spin–Spin Coupling
VSEPR Theory and the Effect of Lone Pairs
Causes of Similarity-Dissimilarity Effect
VSEPR Theory
Interpreting ¹H NMR Signal Splitting: The (n + 1) Rule
Theory of Attribution II: Kelley's Covariation Theory

