What Is Hebb’s Law?

Hebb’s Law, paraphrased as, “Neurons that fire together wire together,” states in whole that, “When an axon of cell A is near enough to excite cell B and repeatedly or persistently takes part in firing it, some growth process or metabolic change takes place in one or both cells such that A’s efficiency, as one of the cells firing B, is increased.”

Over the last few decades, the paraphrasing has become an oft repeated phrase in the early learning world as more attention is given to early brain development and learning. This phrase succinctly summarizes how young children’s brains wire robust neural pathways as they play, explore, and experience their worlds. Hebb’s Law bridges psychology and neuroscience. It has also played an important part in the fields of machine learning and artificial intelligence.

Donald Olding Hebb (1904-1985) was a Canadian psychologist who has been described as the father of neuropsychology and neural networks.

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