How Do We Learn and Remember?
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[/FONT] [FONT=Times New Roman, Times, serif]The mechanisms of learning and memory are at the essence of how the brain works[/FONT][FONT=Times New Roman, Times, serif]
One of the most fascinating and mysterious properties of the brain is its capacity to learn, or its ability to change in response to experience and to retain that knowledge throughout an organism’s lifetime. The ability to learn and to establish new memories is fundamental to our very existence; we rely on memory to engage in effective actions, to understand the words we read, to recognize the objects we see, to decode the auditory signals representing speech, and even to provide us with a personal identity and sense of self. Memory plays such as important and ubiquitous role that it is often taken for granted—the only time most people pay attention to their memory is when it fails, as too often happens through brain injury or disease.
Identifying the complex processes underlying learning, memory and brain plasticity is critical for understanding how the brain works, and remains one of the fundamental challenges facing the brain sciences. Although much has been learned about the neural basis of learning and memory over the years, it is becoming increasingly clear that further advances and insights can only be achieved through an interdisciplinary approach to the problem. Brown’s Brain Science Program (BSP) researchers are accomplishing this goal by examining the wide variety of phenomena associated with learning and memory at all levels of complexity, ranging from molecules, synapses, cells, neuronal ensembles, and neural systems, to the behavior of whole animals.
Molecular and Synaptic Mechanisms of Memory
Synapses are the connections between nerve cells, and they are also the major site of information exchange and storage in the brain. We now know that synapses can alter their effectiveness based on their activity, and that this phenomenon, known as synaptic plasticity, may be the fundamental basis of learning and memory. Researchers at Brown, including Professors Barry Connors, Anna Dunaevsky and Justin Fallon, are interested in how synapses are formed and maintained, and how they are modified by experience to store new information. In one major area of research these scientists are asking how ephemeral episodes of neural activity are transformed into long-lasting changes in synaptic strength. To persist, synaptic modifications require the synthesis of new proteins, many of which arise by the translation of mRNAs at synapses. Since synapses are far away from the cell body—where the mRNAs are made—the neuron must have means for sequestering the message at these remote locations and triggering their translation in response to synaptic activity. Professor Fallon and his students, for example, have discovered a novel molecular mechanism, called cytoplasmic polyadenylation, for the regulation of such local translation and are working to understand how this system functions in learning and memory. They are also studying whether this mechanism plays a role in the pathogenesis of Fragile X Syndrome, the most common form of inherited mental retardation. Finally, they are also investigating the molecular basis of synapse formation and elimination using the highly tractable nerve-muscle synapse.[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, Times, serif]
[/FONT] [FONT=Times New Roman, Times, serif]The mechanisms of learning and memory are at the essence of how the brain works[/FONT][FONT=Times New Roman, Times, serif]
One of the most fascinating and mysterious properties of the brain is its capacity to learn, or its ability to change in response to experience and to retain that knowledge throughout an organism’s lifetime. The ability to learn and to establish new memories is fundamental to our very existence; we rely on memory to engage in effective actions, to understand the words we read, to recognize the objects we see, to decode the auditory signals representing speech, and even to provide us with a personal identity and sense of self. Memory plays such as important and ubiquitous role that it is often taken for granted—the only time most people pay attention to their memory is when it fails, as too often happens through brain injury or disease.
Identifying the complex processes underlying learning, memory and brain plasticity is critical for understanding how the brain works, and remains one of the fundamental challenges facing the brain sciences. Although much has been learned about the neural basis of learning and memory over the years, it is becoming increasingly clear that further advances and insights can only be achieved through an interdisciplinary approach to the problem. Brown’s Brain Science Program (BSP) researchers are accomplishing this goal by examining the wide variety of phenomena associated with learning and memory at all levels of complexity, ranging from molecules, synapses, cells, neuronal ensembles, and neural systems, to the behavior of whole animals.
Molecular and Synaptic Mechanisms of Memory
Synapses are the connections between nerve cells, and they are also the major site of information exchange and storage in the brain. We now know that synapses can alter their effectiveness based on their activity, and that this phenomenon, known as synaptic plasticity, may be the fundamental basis of learning and memory. Researchers at Brown, including Professors Barry Connors, Anna Dunaevsky and Justin Fallon, are interested in how synapses are formed and maintained, and how they are modified by experience to store new information. In one major area of research these scientists are asking how ephemeral episodes of neural activity are transformed into long-lasting changes in synaptic strength. To persist, synaptic modifications require the synthesis of new proteins, many of which arise by the translation of mRNAs at synapses. Since synapses are far away from the cell body—where the mRNAs are made—the neuron must have means for sequestering the message at these remote locations and triggering their translation in response to synaptic activity. Professor Fallon and his students, for example, have discovered a novel molecular mechanism, called cytoplasmic polyadenylation, for the regulation of such local translation and are working to understand how this system functions in learning and memory. They are also studying whether this mechanism plays a role in the pathogenesis of Fragile X Syndrome, the most common form of inherited mental retardation. Finally, they are also investigating the molecular basis of synapse formation and elimination using the highly tractable nerve-muscle synapse.[/FONT]
