X-Message-Number: 10921
Date: Sun, 13 Dec 1998 06:08:09 -0500
From: Thomas Donaldson <>
Subject: CryoNet #10911 - #10919

Hi again!

For Jan Coetzee:
If the researcher Grillner means that this is the first time such
changes have been found in LAMPREYS, he's very likely to be quite
correct. If he means that his discoveries are the first time such
changes have been found in any vertebrate, he's quite quite wrong
(given that you are quoting an article by someone who may know
very little about research on memory --- which has gone on for the
last 20 years, and in which closely similar changes have been 
described in several mammals, I strongly suspect that the misquote
is by the REPORTER, and does not fairly represent Grillner's
actual beliefs).

If you wish to seriously take up the study of memory, I can send
you a reading list. The books are all in English, unfortunately,
though some may be translated. Since your English on Cryonet seems
quite good, you may simply have trouble obtaining them.

Although it has turned out to be quite difficult to prove, a high
consensus now exists between neuroscientists that our long term
memory results from changes in the connectivity of our neurons:
in short, changes in the number or characteristics (probably 
BOTH) of our synapses. The evidence for this idea continues to
pile up, even though no one yet can point to particular changes
to particular neurons which indicate, say, that a person has
just learned how to get through a particular maze.

			Best and long long life to all,

				Thomas Donaldson

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