title: Transgenic approaches to cognition.
abstract: Reverse genetic techniques, including gene 'knockouts' and transgenesis, allow defined mutations to be introduced into the mouse genome. The application of these techniques to neurobiology is beginning to provide a bridge between genes and cognition. Specifically, genetically altered mice make it possible to explore molecular mechanisms underlying implicit and explicit forms of learning, short-term and long-term memory, and emotional behaviors. The analysis of these mutant mice has begun to link specific behavioral deficits to defined changes in synaptic physiology.
authors.affiliation: Howard Hughes Medical Institute, College of Physicians and Surgeons of Columbia University, New York, New York 10032, USA.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mayford
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Abel
authors.forename: E R
authors.initials: ER
authors.lastname: Kandel
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology*; D051379:Mice; D018345:Mice, Knockout / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D008818:Mice, Neurologic Mutants / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D008822:Mice, Transgenic / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*