Cortical rewiring and information storage.
Current thinking about long-term memory in the cortex is focused on changes in the strengths of connections between neurons. But ongoing structural plasticity in the adult brain, including synapse formation/elimination and remodelling of axons and dendrites, suggests that memory could also depend on learning-induced changes in the cortical 'wiring diagram'. Given that the cortex is sparsely connected, wiring plasticity could provide a substantial boost in storage capacity, although at a cost of more elaborate biological machinery and slower learning.
Chklovskii
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DB
Cold Spring Harbour Laboratory, Cold Spring Harbour, New York 11724, USA.
Mel
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BW
Svoboda
K
K
D000818:Animals; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000166:cytology* / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008568:Memory / Q000502:physiology*; D008959:Models, Neurological; D009473:Neuronal Plasticity / Q000502:physiology; D009474:Neurons / Q000166:cytology / Q000502:physiology