Journal article
Synaptic efficacy is commonly regulated within a nervous system and predicts individual differences in learning
Neuroreport, Vol.11(6), pp.1253-1258
04/27/2000
DOI: 10.1097/00001756-200004270-00022
PMID: 10817602
Abstract
The hypothesis that an individualʼs capacity for learning might be predicted or influenced by basal levels of synaptic efficacy has eluded empirical tests, owing in part to the inability to compare between animals single identified synaptic responses in the mammalian brain. To overcome this limitation, we have focused our analysis on the invertebrate Hermissenda, whose nervous system is composed of identifiable cells and synaptic interactions. Hermissenda were exposed to paired presentations of light and rotation such that the light came to elicit a learned defensive motor response. An animalʼs rate of learning was strongly correlated with the amplitude of the synaptic potential evoked in that animalʼs visual (light sensitive) receptors in response to stimulation of presynaptic vestibular (rotation sensitive) hair cells. In naive animals, strong correlations between the amplitude of both inhibitory and excitatory synaptic potentials were observed between synapses distributed throughout an animalʼs nervous system, and this conservation of synaptic efficacy was largely attributable to a common influence on transmitter release. These observations suggest that basal synaptic efficacy may be uniformly regulated throughout a nervous system, and provide direct evidence that the basal efficacy of synaptic transmission predicts, and possibly contributes to, individual differences between animals in their capacity to learn.
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- Synaptic efficacy is commonly regulated within a nervous system and predicts individual differences in learning
- Creators
- Louis Matzel - Rutgers, The State University of New JerseyChetan Gandhi - Rutgers, The State University of New JerseyIsabel Muzzio - Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Publication Details
- Neuroreport, Vol.11(6), pp.1253-1258
- DOI
- 10.1097/00001756-200004270-00022
- PMID
- 10817602
- NLM abbreviation
- Neuroreport
- ISSN
- 0959-4965
- eISSN
- 1473-558X
- Publisher
- Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, Inc
- Language
- English
- Date published
- 04/27/2000
- Academic Unit
- Psychological and Brain Sciences; Iowa Neuroscience Institute
- Record Identifier
- 9984295027302771
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