The brain’s ability to do this is called neuroplasticity, and it’s what gives us the capacity to learn, grow, develop new skills and ideas, and adapt to the environment in which we live. These signals then travel down long strands of neural tissue called axons.The signals are then received by intricate, branched filaments called dendrites and the junctions at which these structures connect are called synapses. Neuroplasticity: the whyWhile we may well understand how neuroplasticity works, it can be more challenging for scientists to explain why this is the case. As mice learned a new behavior, researchers closely tracked synaptic connections (depicted here as small protrusions) on the dendrites of neurons. More generally, Wright emphasises the importance of the simple fact that different dendritic connections appear to perform different functions.