Neuronal Plasticity

• Describe and contrast NMDA-dependent and NMDA-independent long term potentiation (LTP). What are some of the known presynaptic and postsynaptic events involved in the process?
• What is LTD and how does it differ from LTP?
• Donald Hebb proposed an activity-dependent learning rule for synapses as a basis for neuronal self-organization. In what ways is LTP similar or different from the Hebb rule? What are the potential consequences of the differences?
• What are some of the experiments linking synaptic plasticity with learning and memory in behaving animals?
• What do you know of activity-dependent developmental changes, such as the origin of ocular-dominance pattern in the visual system? Describe how a use-dependent synaptic modification rule can lead to the organization of sensory maps.
• There is evidence for rapid re-organization of sensory receptive fields (Merzenich et al.; Gilbert et al.) in the mammalian cortex. How could such arrangements occur rapidly in adult animals?

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