X-Message-Number: 29688
From: "Basie" <>
Subject: New: Memory turned out to be physical after all.
Date: Sun, 29 Jul 2007 14:28:58 -0400

Detailed in the Journal of Neuroscience, the study shows that synaptic 
connections in a region of rats' brains critical to learning change shape 
when the rodents learn to navigate a new, complex environment. In turn, when 
drugs are administered that block these changes, the rats don't learn, 
confirming the essential role the shape change plays in the production of 
stable memory.

"This is the first time anyone has seen the physical substrate, the 'face,' 
of newly encoded memory. We have cleared a hurdle that once seemed 
insurmountable," said Gary Lynch, professor of psychiatry and human behavior 
at UC Irvine and leader of one of the two research teams involved in the 
studies.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/07/070725093713.htm

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