NEUROTROPHIC FACTORS, NEURONAL SELECTIONISM, AND NEURONAL PROLIFERATION

Quartz & Sejnowski (A&S) disregard evidence that suggests that their v iew of dendrites is inadequate and they ignore recent results concerni ng the role of neurotrophic factors in synaptic remodelling. They misr epresent neuronal selectionism and thus erect a straw-man argument. Fi nally, the results discussed in section 4.2 require neuronal prolifera tion, but this does not occur during the period of neuronal developmen t of relevance here.