PSYC 3800 Lecture 9: Chapter 25 - Molecular Memory - Explicit (3-pages)
Document Summary
Every neuron can form a memory of recent patterns of activity. Area involved in memory storage of objects. Unique pattern or ratio of activity of neuronal activity. Graceful degradation of memories with gradual neuron loss. Physical change of memory modification of synaptic weight. High-frequency electrical stimulation (tetanus) of excitatory pathway in the hippocampus produces ltp. The tri-synaptic pathway: dentate gyrus, cornus ammon. Working in rabbit hippocampus they found that if they applied a brief train of electrical stimulation (200 hz) to the input pathway, they altered the firing properties of cells. These changes later were shown to last for months. Most excitatory and many inhibitory synapses support ltp. Input that does not receive tetanus does not demonstrate ltp. What is the required amount of stimulation to induce. Stimulation at frequencies high enough to cause temporal summation. Cooperativity between synapses: must have enough synapses activated to cause spatial summation.
