Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary - plasticity

 noun  Date: circa 1783  1. the quality or state of being plastic; especially capacity for being molded or altered  2. the ability to retain a shape attained by pressure deformation  3. the capacity of organisms with the same genotype to vary in developmental pattern, in phenotype, or in behavior according to varying environmental conditions  4. the capacity for continuous alteration of the neural pathways and synapses of the living brain and nervous system in response to experience or injury