A journey from neocortex to hippocampus.
In the mid-1960s, it was generally agreed that the engram, the neural trace of previously experienced events, must be encoded by Hebb-like neurons in which synaptic efficacy could be modified by activity. Here, I describe my attempts as a PhD student at McGill University, Montreal, to find rules governing cortical plasticity in the neocortex, and having failed, why the hippocampus seemed to offer a far better prospect.
Division of Neurophysiology, National Institute for Medical Research, Mill Hill, London NW7 1AA, UK. tbliss@nimr.mrc.ac.uk
T V P
TV
Bliss
D000818:Animals; D002170:Canada; D006624:Hippocampus / Q000502:physiology; D049673:History, 20th Century; D017774:Long-Term Potentiation / Q000502:physiology; D008568:Memory / Q000502:physiology; D019579:Neocortex / Q000502:physiology; D009473:Neuronal Plasticity / Q000502:physiology*; D009482:Neurophysiology / Q000266:history