Neurogenesis in the adult brain: death of a dogma

For over 100 years a central assumption in the field of neuroscience has be en that new neurons are not added to the adult mammalian brain. This perspe ctive examines the origins of this dogma, its perseverance in the face of c ontradictory evidence, and its final collapse. The acceptance of adult neur ogenesis may be part of a contemporary paradigm shift in our View of the pl asticity and stability of the adult brain.