Modifiable Synapses
Animal brains are built to learn things — that’s the entire reason for their existence. Sometimes human brains learn the “right” things — how to drive a car, how to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, or how to read this textbook. Often, however, human brains learn the “wrong” things — addiction, chronic pain, and anxiety disorders would be just a few of the many maladaptive behaviors that the human brain learns. If we hope to learn the difficult concepts inherent in neuroscience, and if we hope to understand the basis for those maladaptive behaviors in ourselves and others so we have a chance to correct them, we have to understand how learning takes place.
The molecular and cellular basis for learning and memory is the modifiable synapse.
By the end of this section of the course, students should be able to:
- Describe the historical perspective underlying our understanding of modifiable synapses.
- Explain the importance of the hippocampal slice preparation to studies of learning and memory.
- Outline the basic steps in a classic demonstration of long-term potentiation.
- Summarize the molecular-level elements of a modifiable (Hebbian) synapse.
- Explain the mechanism of both early and late long-term potentiation.
