SANTA CRUZ — In a groundbreaking study published this week, UC Santa Cruz biomolecular engineering assistant professor Tal Sharf and other researchers have shown that developing brain tissue exhibits spontaneous activity and structure without receiving any sensory information, suggesting that the brain comes prewired to understand physical experience.

From the days of Aristotle in ancient Greece, many philosophers and scientists have held the belief that the human brain is formed devoid of activity or structure before the sights, smells, sounds, tastes and textures of experience begin to give it shape — an idea known as “tabula rasa,” Latin for “blank slate.”

However, by using innovative methods to measure the electrical impulses of lab-grown brain tissue, Sharf and the study’s authors d

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