Abstract
Despite a long-standing interest in the mechanisms by which nervous systems store and retrieve information, it is rather disappointing that most fundamental questions regarding long-term storage remain unresolved. For many years the unavailability of methods appropriate for investigating the dynamics of neural activity constituted a major barrier in this regard. Consequently, the advent of electrophysiological methods, and microelectrode techniques in particular, generated considerable optimism that changes in neuronal discharge patterns during development of learned behaviors could be specified, and that this would yield important insights into many basic questions regarding the cellular basis of storage. Unfortunately, such optimism has generally been unfounded. For example, we still cannot answer such fundamental questions as whether all neurons are capable of plastic change or if this capacity is restricted to certain morphologically and/or neurochemically specialized neuronal elements. We remain ignorant of the regions of the neuron which undergo plastic change and, of course, the nature of such change. In fact, in vertebrate brain we have yet to implicate conclusively any specific synaptic field in long-term storage.
The author’s research described here has been generously supported by grants from the National Science Foundation (GB-2767, GB-6850, GB-8008, GB-13816X, and GB-35204X), the Heart Association of Northeast Ohio, and the Benevolent Foundation of Scottish Rite Free Masonary, Northern Jurisdiction, U.S.A. Also, the author held a Research Career Development Award (HL-16579) from the National Heart and Lung Institute during the period much of this work was accomplished.
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Cohen, D.H. (1974). The Neural Pathways and Informational Flow Mediating a Conditioned Autonomic Response. In: Limbic and Autonomic Nervous Systems Research. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4613-4407-0_7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4613-4407-0_7
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