Making memories stick.

• Autores: R. Douglas Fields
• Localización: Scientific American, ISSN 0036-8733, Vol. 292, Nº. 2, 2005, págs. 74-81
• Idioma: inglés
• Texto completo no disponible (Saber más ...)
• Resumen

  • The author examines why some moments become lasting recollections while others just evaporate, which may involve the same processes that shape our brains to begin with. Both long- and short-term memories arise from the connections between neurons, at points of contact called synapses, where one neuron's signal-emitting extension, called an axon, meets any of an adjacent neuron's dozens of signal-receiving fingers, called dendrites. When a short-term memory is created, stimulation of the synapse is enough to temporarily "strengthen," or sensitize, it to subsequent signals. For a long-term memory, the synapse strengthening becomes permanent. Memory researchers have puzzled over how JOURe activity deep in the cell nucleus could govern activities at faraway synapses. How does a JOURe "know" when to strengthen a synapse permanently and when to let a fleeting moment fade unrecorded? And how do the proteins encoded by the JOURe "know" which of thousands of synapses to strengthen? The same questions have implications for understanding fetal brain development, a time when the brain is deciding which synaptic connections to keep and which to discard. In studying that phenomenon, my lab came up with an intriguing solution to one of these mysteries of memory. And just like Dorothy, we realized that the answer was there all the time. INSET: Overview/Hardwiring Memory.