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I agree, to a point, that there may be evidence to suggest that we were capable of recieving and processing far more stimuli as infants than we do as adults and even as young children. The period of plasticity is really interesting and the particular example of receptors of certain phonemes exist before we reach the critical language period, but atrophy when that part of neuroplasticity ends is a great one. Further, many studies have beenconducted that show evidence for quite a bit of neural plasticity in adults, though not with the same level of permanence. For example, adults were taught how to juggle and with this procedural knowledge, higher density of neurons were observed in certain brain regions. This increased density, however, atrophied after the skill was lost.

I would be interested to explore the consistency with which this pattern exists. What is the threshold of "currency of skill-knowledge"/"skill loss" at which point neurons begin to atrophy? Is this controlled to any degree among humans?