Every brain differs by its history even when anatomy matches

Evidence

The fact that synapses can see their efficacy reinforced or weakened as a function of experience thus allows us to assert that, even if all human brains resemble each other with respect to their anatomy, no two brains are identical with respect to their history. The phenomena of learning and memory show this directly. Repetition and habit play a considerable role, and this reveals that the response of a nervous circuit is never fixed. Plasticity thus adds the functions of artist and instructor in freedom and autonomy to its role as sculptor. — Catherine Malabou, What Should We Do with Our Brain?, 91

Categorization

• DEFINE: Brain identity is constituted by history, not anatomy — a precision point relevant to plasticity vs flexibility framing.
• XREF: connects to: Specific brain lesions produce predictable, shared transformations of identity — Catherine Malabou, The New Wounded: From Neurosis to Brain…, 507