Individual Variability in the Functional Organization of the Cerebral Cortex Across a Lifetime: A Substrate for Evolution Across Generations

The dynamic changes in the functional organization of the cerebral cortex have been well documented over the past several decades. In this research it has become clear that there is a great deal of variability across individuals, both in the extent of cortical reorganization as well as in perceptual abilities. A good example of this are the changes that occur not only in the cortex but at each subcortical station in the auditory system. These changes are reviewed in the context of how such individual differences could account for both cross-species as well as cross-individual evolution.