Neuropharmacology and Neurochemistry

Synaptic plasticity and memory

The hypothesis of the synaptic plasticity and memory asserts that the activity-dependent synaptic plasticity is induced during memory formation at appropriate synapse and is both essential and sufficient to encode and store the kind of memory mediated by the brain area in which it is observed. Memories are first stored in the hippocampus, where in seconds of the events to be remembered, synapses between excitatory neurons begin to develop new circuits. A relatively small number of synapses can increase its strength by binding neurons into a circuit that stores a new memory.