I am reading William James' "Principles of Psychology". It is clear in his research that he was acutely aware of brain plasticity and the limited capacity for a precise "schema" (ie. static brain map) to represent brain function. Seeing that this text is well over 100 years old and cites much research even older, how is it that I see so much information (primarily in the press and lay neurology texts) that brain plasticity is a new perspective recently discovered by academics and researchers? Without question the earliest modern neuroscientists knew about brain plasticity. It was an undeniable characteristic of their research. (As a side note, it is interesting that creatures with less intelligence have greater plasticity, with the level of intelligence being inversely proportional to plasticity. A fact I've never seen discussed.)
I feel I should mention that I am not a psychologist or neuro-scientist. I have a doctorate in Statistics. I did search academic papers and there are many papers that credit William James with describing plasticity under the heading "habit". So to my original question, why is it that plasticity is just being "discovered?"
An academic paper that clearly sites William James with being the first to introduce plasticity - https://fastertomaster.com/the-brain-that-changes-itself-norman-doidge/
A recent book that erroneously claims plasticity is a new concept - https://fastertomaster.com/the-brain-that-changes-itself-norman-doidge/