Read the passage excerpt:

'Neuroplasticity—the brain’s capacity to structurally and functionally reorganize in response to learning, environmental enrichment, or neurological trauma—persists throughout adult life, overturning the historical dogma that the adult neural connectome is immutable. Synaptic plasticity, mediated by long-term potentiation (LTP) and dendritic arborization, allows surviving neural networks to compensate for damaged pathways following cerebral ischemia.'

What historical neurobiological assumption was disproven by modern research on neuroplasticity?

Answer and explanation

Correct answer: A. The dogma that adult brains are structurally rigid and incapable of reorganization

  1. Step 1: The text explains that neuroplasticity 'persists throughout adult life, overturning the historical dogma that the adult neural connectome is immutable.'
  2. Step 2: Adult brains retain structural and functional re-wiring capability.
Answer
The dogma that adult brains are structurally rigid and incapable of reorganization.
Why not the others: 'The hypothesis that the nervous system uses chemical neurotransmitters' is an established fundamental fact, not a disproven dogma; 'The theory that the cerebellum is involved in motor coordination' is true; 'The discovery that neurons communicate across synapses' is established neuroscience.

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