Unlike adult memories that can be remembered for many years, memories that are formed early in life are more fragile and susceptible to being forgotten (a phenomenon known as "infantile" or "childhood" amnesia). Nonetheless, decades of research in both humans and nonhuman animals demonstrate the importance of early life…

Neurotrophins are critically involved in developmental processes such as neuronal cell survival, growth, and differentiation, as well as in adult synaptic plasticity contributing to learning and memory. Our previous studies examining neurotrophins and memory formation in "Aplysia" showed that a TrkB ligand is required for MAPK…

In this study, we investigated neural precursors of language acquisition as potential endophenotypes of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in 3-month-old infants at high and low familial ASD risk. Infants were imaged using functional near-infrared spectroscopy while they listened to auditory stimuli containing syllable repetitions; their neural…

The N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor is known to be necessary for many forms of learning and memory, including social recognition memory. Additionally, the GluN2 subunits are known to modulate multiple forms of memory, with a high GluN2A:GluN2B ratio leading to impairments in long-term memory, while a low GluN2A:GluN2B ratio enhances some…

Memories that last a lifetime are thought to be stored, at least in part, as persistent enhancement of the strength of particular synapses. The synaptic mechanism of these persistent changes, late long-term potentiation (L-LTP), depends on the state and number of specific synaptic proteins. Synaptic proteins, however, have limited dwell times due…

Functional connectivity is the statistical association of neuronal activity time courses across distinct brain regions, supporting specific cognitive processes. This coordination of activity is likely to be highly important for complex aspects of cognition, such as the communication of fluctuating task goals from higher-order control regions to…

Low socioeconomic status (SES) has been repeatedly linked with decreased academic achievement, including lower reading outcomes. Some lower SES children do show skills and scores commensurate with those of their higher SES peers, but whether their abilities stem from the same systems as high SES children or are based on divergent strategies is…

Exercise can have many benefits for the body, but it also benefits the brain by increasing neurogenesis, synaptic plasticity, and performance on learning and memory tasks. The period of exercise needed to realize the structural and functional benefits for the brain have not been well delineated, and previous studies have used periods of exercise…

Understanding the cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying the formation and maintenance of memories is a central goal of the neuroscience community. It is well regarded that an organism's ability to lastingly adapt its behavior in response to a transient environmental stimulus relies on the central nervous system's capability for structural…

The acquisition of temporal associative tasks such as trace eyeblink conditioning is hippocampus-dependent, while consolidated performance is not. The parahippocampal region mediates much of the input and output of the hippocampus, and perirhinal (PER) and entorhinal (EC) cortices support persistent spiking, a possible mediator of temporal…

The allatostatin receptor (AlstR)/ligand inactivation system enables potent regulation of neuronal circuit activity. To examine how different cell types participate in memory formation, we have used this system through Cre-directed, cell-type specific expression in mouse hippocampal CA1 in vivo and examined functional effects of inactivation of…

This article synthesizes foundational knowledge from multiple scientific disciplines regarding how humans develop in context. Major constructs that define human development are integrated into a developmental system framework, this includes--epigenetics, neural malleability and plasticity, integrated complex skill development and learning, human…

We investigated the specific role of zinc present in large amounts in the synaptic vesicles of mossy fibers and coreleased with glutamate in the CA3 region. In previous studies, we have shown that blockade of zinc after release has no effect on the consolidation of spatial learning, while zinc is required for the consolidation of contextual fear…

Learning-induced modulation of neuronal intrinsic excitability is a metaplasticity mechanism that can impact the acquisition of new memories. Although the amygdala is important for emotional learning and other behaviors, including fear and anxiety, whether learning alters intrinsic excitability within the amygdala has received very little…

This event-related fMRI study investigated the differences between learning from examples and learning from verbal directions in mathematical problem solving and how these instruction types affect the activity of relevant brain regions during instruction and solution periods within problem-solving trials. We identified distinct neural signatures…