Neuronal plasticity of the haptic system

Abstract

To survive in a continuously changing environment either as individual or species, organisms need to adapt. Since environmental changes occur on different time scales ranging from milliseconds to hundreds of centuries, nature provides an arsenal of different mechanisms and strategies of adaptation. Immediate adaptations are necessary in life-threatening situations. Alternatively, changes in climate, food availability, and the appearance of competitors and predators alter an individual's behaviour, and might, on a longer timescale, even shape organisms across generations. Adaptation of the latter type occurs mainly on an evolutionary basis, which acts on genetic information. In contrast, adaptation referring to changes in individual's behaviour is realised by learning which is mediated on a neuronal level.