NEURAL CONSTRUCTIVISM - HOW MAMMALS MAKE MODULES

Although the developmental arguments in the Quartz & Sejnowski (Q&S) t arget article may have intrinsic merit, they do not warrant the author s' conclusion that innate modular architectures are absent or minimal, and that neocortical evolution is simply a progression toward more fl exible representational structures. Modular architectures can develop and evolve in tandem with sub-cortical specialisation. I present compa rative evidence for the co-evolution of specific thalamic and cortical visual pathways.