All this work established the metaphor of the brain as a muscle, and the notion of use it or lose it. Aside from challenging the long-standing separation between biology and psychology, the social implications of environmental enrichment were radical. The Berkeley studies led to the creation of Head Start, the federal education program that provides funding to send disadvantaged children to preschool. Why should poor kids be left in bare cages? The field took off, and neuroscientists began to investigate different ways to stimulate brain growth.
