experience-dependent process
in brain development, changes in neurochemistry, anatomy, electrophysiology, and neuronal structure following various experiences that are unique to an individual and may occur at any time during the lifespan. The experience of training in certain behaviorial and cognitive tasks, for example, has been shown to increase the length of dendrites and spine density, the primary sites of excitatory synapses, on individual neurons, effectively increasing the amount of space available for synaptic connections. Such changes are thought to be among the primary mechanisms by which the brain adapts to environmental demands and thus may represent an important component of the neural substrate of learning and memory.