Neuronal unmasking

• • Wall first identified 'dormant synapses' in brain.
• • These synaptic connections that exists anatomically but their function is blocked - under normal conditions these synapses may be effective because rate of neural input to them is too low for them to be activated. - increasing rate of input to these synapses can then open these dormant synapses.
• • unmasking of dormant synapses can open connections to regions of the brain that are not normally activated.
• • Dormant synapses recieve more input after damage to nearby area - this can create new connections.