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Role of Calcium Ions in Learning

  • Chapter
Neural Mechanisms of Conditioning

Abstract

The title of this chapter may well seem inappropriate. No one will dispute the basic premise: taking part in so many membrane and internal cellular processes (Rasmussen, 1981; Rasmussen and Barrett, 1984), Ca2+ can hardly fail to be involved in learning. On the other hand, the title seems to imply a particular role, both essential and well defined. To claim that such a role has been identified would be patently untrue. Nevertheless, it may be useful to review briefly the facilitatory processes—not dependent on structural changes, such as sprouting of new connections—that have been recognized in the CNS and to discuss ways in which Ca2+ may be of importance. Special reference will be made to the hippocampus, where direct measurements of Ca2+ levels have recently revealed some remarkable changes during “burst” activity.

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Authors
  1. K. Krnjević
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. National Institute of Neurological Communicative Diseases and Stroke, National Institutes of Health at the Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole, Massachusetts, USA

    Daniel L. Alkon

  2. Mental Retardation Research Center, Brain Research Institute, University of California at Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, USA

    Charles D. Woody

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© 1986 Plenum Press, New York

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Krnjević, K. (1986). Role of Calcium Ions in Learning. In: Alkon, D.L., Woody, C.D. (eds) Neural Mechanisms of Conditioning. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4613-2115-6_16

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4613-2115-6_16

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4612-9251-7

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4613-2115-6

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