Targeted Memory Reactivation (TMR) is a noninvasive tool to manipulate memory consolidation during sleep. TMR builds on the brain's natural processes of memory reactivation during sleep and aims to facilitate or bias these processes in a certain direction. The basis of this technique is the association of learning content with sensory cues, such…

Dopamine participates in encoding memories and could either encode rewarding/aversive value of unconditioned stimuli or act as a novelty signal triggering contextual learning. Here we show that intraperitoneal injection of the dopamine D1/5R antagonist SCH23390 impairs contextual fear conditioning and tone-shock association, while intrahippocampal…

A more thorough description of the changes in synaptic strength underlying synaptic plasticity may be achieved with quantal resolution measurements at individual synaptic sites. Here, we demonstrate that by using a membrane targeted genetic calcium sensor, we can measure quantal synaptic events at the individual synaptic sites of…

Research into the neural mechanisms that underlie higher-order cognitive control of eating behavior suggests that ventral hippocampal (vHC) neurons, which are critical for emotional memory, also inhibit energy intake. We showed previously that optogenetically inhibiting vHC glutamatergic neurons during the early postprandial period, when the…

Posttraining meditation has been shown to promote wakeful memory stabilization of explicit motor sequence information in learners who are experienced meditators. We investigated the effect of single-session mindfulness meditation on wakeful and sleep-dependent forms of implicit motor memory consolidation in meditation naïve adults. Immediately…

Operant reward learning of feeding behavior in "Aplysia" increases the frequency and regularity of biting, as well as biases buccal motor patterns (BMPs) toward ingestion-like BMPs (iBMPs). The engram underlying this memory comprises cells that are part of a central pattern generating (CPG) circuit and includes increases in the intrinsic…

It has been 70 years since Donald Hebb published his formalized theory of synaptic adaptation during learning. Hebb's seminal work foreshadowed some of the great neuroscientific discoveries of the following decades, including the discovery of long-term potentiation and other lasting forms of synaptic plasticity, and more recently the residence of…

Precise auditory perception at a subcortical level (neural representation and encoding of sound) has been suggested as a form of implicit L2 aptitude in naturalistic settings. Emerging evidence suggests that such implicit aptitude explains some variance in L2 speech perception and production among adult learners with different first language…

High phonological neighborhood density has been associated with both advantages and disadvantages in early word learning. High density may support the formation and fine-tuning of new word sound memories--a process termed lexical configuration (e.g., Storkel, 2004). However, new high-density words are also more likely to be misunderstood as…

Largely inspired from clinical concepts like brain reserve, cognitive reserve, and neural compensation, here we review data showing how neural circuits reorganize in presymptomatic and early symptomatic hAPP mice to maintain memory intact. By informing on molecular alterations and compensatory adaptations which take place in the brain before mice…

Previous studies indicate that autobiographical memory is impaired in individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Successful recollection of information referring to one's own person requires the intact ability to re-activate representation of the past self. In the current fMRI study we investigated process of conscious reflection on the…

Atypical PKM, a persistently active form of atypical PKC, is proposed to be a molecular memory trace, but there have been few examinations of the role of PKMs generated from other PKCs. We demonstrate that inhibitors used to inhibit PKMs generated from atypical PKCs are also effective inhibitors of other PKMs. In contrast, we demonstrate that…

The nucleus reuniens of the thalamus (RE) is a key component of an extensive network of hippocampal and cortical structures and is a fundamental substrate for cognition. A common misconception is that RE is a simple relay structure. Instead, a better conceptualization is that RE is a critical component of a canonical higher-order…

Spatial memory, the aspect of memory involving encoding and retrieval of information regarding one's environment and spatial orientation, is a complex biological function incorporating multiple neuronal networks. Hippocampus-dependent spatial memory is not innate and emerges during development in both humans and rodents. In children,…

The aim of the present study was to analyze the surface expression of the NMDA-like receptors during the consolidation of contextual learning in the crab "Neohelice granulata". Memory storage is based on alterations in the strength of synaptic connections between neurons. The glutamatergic synapses undergo various forms of…