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Neural Mechanisms of Learning and Memory

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A special issue of Biology (ISSN 2079-7737).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 August 2014) | Viewed by 33835

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Prof. Dr. Bertram Opitz

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School of Psychology, University of Surrey, Guildford, Surrey GU2 7XH, UK
Interests: neural basis of learning and memory; long term memory formation; second language acquisition; feedback based learning

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Our brains hold a seemingly endless amount of information, from childhood memories to our home addresses. Not only neuroscience is already attempting to answer the question how are we able to learn, store, and recall all this information with such ease?

In a special issue of Biology we are going to rely on the huge range of concepts and techniques, from molecular events in the nervous system and human system neuroscientific approaches, to computational models aiming at a holistic picture of the neural mechanisms involved.

Advances in molecular biology and genetics are offering new clues about key molecules and proteins that influence memory. Research at the cellular level has shown that brain cells undergo chemical and structural changes during learning by changing the number or strength of connections between themselves. Recent animal studies suggest that manipulating these molecules could lead to new ways of modifying memories. Other studies on human participants have attempted to identify how different areas of the brain work together to enhance memory formation and storage.

For this special issue of Biology, we invite research articles from any field of neuroscience to help expand our understanding of the neural mechanisms of learning and memory.

Prof. Dr. Bertram Opitz
Guest Editor

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Published Papers (4 papers)

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809 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Environmental Enrichment Reverses Histone Methylation Changes in the Aged Hippocampus and Restores Age-Related Memory Deficits

by Sarah J. Morse, Anderson A. Butler, Robin L. Davis, Ian J. Soller and Farah D. Lubin

Biology 2015, 4(2), 298-313; https://doi.org/10.3390/biology4020298 - 01 Apr 2015

Cited by 56 | Viewed by 7449

Abstract

A decline in long-term memory (LTM) formation is a common feature of the normal aging process, which corresponds with abnormal expression of memory-related genes in the aged hippocampus. Epigenetic modulation of chromatin structure is required for proper transcriptional control of genes, such as the brain-derived neurotrophic factor (Bdnf) and Zif268 in the hippocampus during the consolidation of new memories. Recently, the view has emerged that aberrant transcriptional regulation of memory-related genes may be reflective of an altered epigenetic landscape within the aged hippocampus, resulting in memory deficits with aging. Here, we found that baseline resting levels for tri-methylation of histone H3 at lysine 4 (H3K4me3) and acetylation of histone H3 at lysine 9 and 14 (H3K9,K14ac) were altered in the aged hippocampus as compared to levels in the hippocampus of young adult rats. Interestingly, object learning failed to increase activity-dependent H3K4me3 and di-methylation of histone H3 at lysine 9 (H3K9me2) levels in the hippocampus of aged adults as compared to young adults. Treatment with the LSD-1 histone demethylase inhibitor, t-PCP, increased baseline resting H3K4me3 and H3K9,K14ac levels in the young adult hippocampus, while young adult rats exhibited similar memory deficits as observed in aged rats. After environmental enrichment (EE), we found that object learning induced increases in H3K4me3 levels around the Bdnf, but not the Zif268, gene region in the aged hippocampus and rescued memory deficits in aged adults. Collectively, these results suggest that histone lysine methylation levels are abnormally regulated in the aged hippocampus and identify histone lysine methylation as a transcriptional mechanism by which EE may serve to restore memory formation with aging. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Neural Mechanisms of Learning and Memory)

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634 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Effects of Anodal Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation on Visually Guided Learning of Grip Force Control

by Tamas Minarik, Paul Sauseng, Lewis Dunne, Barbara Berger and Annette Sterr

Biology 2015, 4(1), 173-186; https://doi.org/10.3390/biology4010173 - 02 Mar 2015

Cited by 12 | Viewed by 6626

Abstract

Anodal transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) has been shown to be an effective non-invasive brain stimulation method for improving cognitive and motor functioning in patients with neurological deficits. tDCS over motor cortex (M1), for instance, facilitates motor learning in stroke patients. However, the literature on anodal tDCS effects on motor learning in healthy participants is inconclusive, and the effects of tDCS on visuo-motor integration are not well understood. In the present study we examined whether tDCS over the contralateral motor cortex enhances learning of grip-force output in a visually guided feedback task in young and neurologically healthy volunteers. Twenty minutes of 1 mA anodal tDCS were applied over the primary motor cortex (M1) contralateral to the dominant (right) hand, during the first half of a 40 min power-grip task. This task required the control of a visual signal by modulating the strength of the power-grip for six seconds per trial. Each participant completed a two-session sham-controlled crossover protocol. The stimulation conditions were counterbalanced across participants and the sessions were one week apart. Performance measures comprised time-on-target and target-deviation, and were calculated for the periods of stimulation (or sham) and during the afterphase respectively. Statistical analyses revealed significant performance improvements over the stimulation and the afterphase, but this learning effect was not modulated by tDCS condition. This suggests that the form of visuomotor learning taking place in the present task was not sensitive to neurostimulation. These null effects, together with similar reports for other types of motor tasks, lead to the proposition that tDCS facilitation of motor learning might be restricted to cases or situations where the motor system is challenged, such as motor deficits, advanced age, or very high task demand. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Neural Mechanisms of Learning and Memory)

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751 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Interacting Memory Systems—Does EEG Alpha Activity Respond to Semantic Long-Term Memory Access in a Working Memory Task?

by Barbara Berger, Serif Omer, Tamas Minarik, Annette Sterr and Paul Sauseng

Biology 2015, 4(1), 1-16; https://doi.org/10.3390/biology4010001 - 24 Dec 2014

Cited by 21 | Viewed by 9040

Abstract

Memory consists of various individual processes which form a dynamic system co-ordinated by central (executive) functions. The episodic buffer as direct interface between episodic long-term memory (LTM) and working memory (WM) is fairly well studied but such direct interaction is less clear in semantic LTM. Here, we designed a verbal delayed-match-to-sample task specifically to differentiate between pure information maintenance and mental manipulation of memory traces with and without involvement of access to semantic LTM. Task-related amplitude differences of electroencephalographic (EEG) oscillatory brain activity showed a linear increase in frontal-midline theta and linear suppression of parietal beta amplitudes relative to memory operation complexity. Amplitude suppression at upper alpha frequency, which was previously found to indicate access to semantic LTM, was only sensitive to mental manipulation in general, irrespective of LTM involvement. This suggests that suppression of upper EEG alpha activity might rather reflect unspecific distributed cortical activation during complex mental processes than accessing semantic LTM. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Neural Mechanisms of Learning and Memory)

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684 KiB

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Pre- and Postsynaptic Role of Dopamine D2 Receptor DD2R in Drosophila Olfactory Associative Learning

by Cheng Qi and Daewoo Lee

Biology 2014, 3(4), 831-845; https://doi.org/10.3390/biology3040831 - 21 Nov 2014

Cited by 9 | Viewed by 9265

Abstract

Dopaminergic neurons in Drosophila play critical roles in diverse brain functions such as motor control, arousal, learning, and memory. Using genetic and behavioral approaches, it has been firmly established that proper dopamine signaling is required for olfactory classical conditioning (e.g., aversive and appetitive learning). Dopamine mediates its functions through interaction with its receptors. There are two different types of dopamine receptors in Drosophila: D1-like (dDA1, DAMB) and D2-like receptors (DD2R). Currently, no study has attempted to characterize the role of DD2R in Drosophila learning and memory. Using a DD2R-RNAi transgenic line, we have examined the role of DD2R, expressed in dopamine neurons (i.e., the presynaptic DD2R autoreceptor), in larval olfactory learning. The function of postsynaptic DD2R expressed in mushroom body (MB) was also studied as MB is the center for Drosophila learning, with a function analogous to that of the mammalian hippocampus. Our results showed that suppression of presynaptic DD2R autoreceptors impairs both appetitive and aversive learning. Similarly, postsynaptic DD2R in MB neurons appears to be involved in both appetitive and aversive learning. The data confirm, for the first time, that DD2R plays an important role in Drosophila olfactory learning. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Neural Mechanisms of Learning and Memory)

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