The Neurobiology of Learning and Memory

Abstract

Study of the neurobiology of learning and memory is in a most exciting phase. Behavioral studies in animals are characterizing the categories and properties of learning and memory; essential memory trace circuits in the brain are being defined and localized in mammalian models; work on human memory and the brain is identifying neuronal systems involved in memory; the neuronal, neurochemical, molecular, and biophysical substrates of memory are beginning to be understood in both invertebrate and vertebrate systems; and theoretical and mathematical analysis of basic associative learning and of neuronal networks in proceeding apace. Likely applications of this new understanding of the neural bases of learning and memory range from education to the treatment of learning disabilities to the design of new artificial intelligence systems.

Cannabis Use Disrupts Eyeblink Conditioning: Evidence for Cannabinoid Modulation of Cerebellar-Dependent Learning

“…The importance of cerebellum in the acquisition of the nictitating membrane/eyeblink response in nonhuman animals has been clearly demonstrated (McCormick et al, 1981;McCormick and Thompson, 1984a, b;Thompson, 1986;Yeo et al, 1985a, b). Although it is difficult to directly assess the neural substrates of EBC in humans, increasing evidence corroborates the nonhuman animal literature (Daum et al, 1993;Topka et al, 1993;Woodruff-Pak et al, 1996).…”

A vector-integration-to-endpoint model for performance of viapoint movements

“…Learning a TTC threshold for action might therefore be based on noticing signal combinations. This is of interest because the cerebellum, which has long been viewed as a signal-combination detector (e.g., Albus, 1971 ), has recently been implicated experimentally as (also) a site of adaptive timing (Keele & I vry, 1990;Thompson, 1986;Perrett et al, 1993;Steinmetz, 1990). Work by Bullock, Fiala & Grossberg ( 1994;Fiala, Grossberg & Bullock, 1996) has produced a biochemistry-based model of how phase-advanced action components can be learned by Purkinje cell populations in any predictive task context to which the cerebellum is sensitive.…”

A Mechanism for Savings in the Cerebellum

“…The existence of savings is among the evidence supporting the notion that extinction training leaves behind residual excitatory strength (Reberg, 1972;Schactman et al, 1985;Kehoe, 1988). Here we present evidence for this residual-plasticity hypothesis in eyelid conditioning and characterize basic mechanisms involved in the savings observed with this form of motor learning.A variety of evidence indicates that the cerebellum is a necessary component of the neural pathways that mediate eyelid conditioning (Thompson, 1986;Thompson and Krupa, 1994;Raymond et al, 1996;Kim and Thompson, 1997). This evidence, combined with the well characterized synaptic organization and physiology of the cerebellum (Eccles et al, 1967;Llinas, 1981;Ito, 1984;Voogd and Glickstein, 1998), makes it possible to build large-scale computer simulations of the cerebellum and to test their capacity to display eyelid conditioning.…”

“…A variety of evidence indicates that the cerebellum is a necessary component of the neural pathways that mediate eyelid conditioning (Thompson, 1986;Thompson and Krupa, 1994;Raymond et al, 1996;Kim and Thompson, 1997). This evidence, combined with the well characterized synaptic organization and physiology of the cerebellum (Eccles et al, 1967;Llinas, 1981;Ito, 1984;Voogd and Glickstein, 1998), makes it possible to build large-scale computer simulations of the cerebellum and to test their capacity to display eyelid conditioning.…”