Lego-like building blocks of perception.

Neuronal circuitry is often considered a clean slate that can be dynamically and arbitrarily molded by experience. However, when the team of Prof. Henry Markram (LMNC - Neural Microcircuitry Laboratory) investigated synaptic connectivity in groups of pyramidal neurons in the neocortex, they found that both connectivity and
synaptic weights were surprisingly predictable. They discovered a synaptic organizing principle that groups neurons in a manner that is common across animals and hence, independent of individual experiences. They speculate that these elementary neuronal groups are prescribed Lego-like building blocks of perception and that acquired memory relies more on combining these elementary assemblies into higher-order constructs.

Rodrigo Perin et al., PNAS doi: 10.1073/pnas.1016051108 (2011)