Synapses can fire together, meaning communicate, but it takes something special for them to wire together, meaning fuse into a connection. What stimulates our neurons to communicate with one another—to fire chemical messages—and to do so with enough energy that they wire together into a synaptic connection, is based on the intensity of the sensory

Two things emerge from all these studies. The adult brain is a highly specialized device that responds specifically to specific kinds of stimulation. Particular parts of the brain, even individual cells, are designed to respond to information from the outside world in particular ways, sending that information off to other parts of the brain. In tha

As that cumulative sensory data reaches the brain and is processed, networks of neurons arrange themselves into specific patterns reflecting the external event. The moment those nerve cells string into place, the brain releases chemicals.