Comments on: New Research on How Visual Memory Works

By: Etienne

Etienne — Sun, 27 Apr 2008 08:07:59 +0000

… and where is the ref to the Cell article??The Cell journal is different from Cell press that publishes Neuron, by almost a factor ten in impact factor.

By: Greg Laden

Greg Laden — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 17:38:20 +0000

Brian: While it is a bit of an over simplifcation it is perfectly reasonable to assert that memories “live” in the hippocampus initially, and are then ‘moved’ to other areas where they become long term memories. So yes, they are stored there, temporarily.I’m sure your second point is totally valid. I think the main thing they were doing, though, was using a system they had some control over to see what the molecules were doing.

By: Brian

Brian — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 17:11:52 +0000

A few minor comments:1) While certainly the hippocampus appears critical in forming memories, i’m not aware of any evidence that memories are ever actually stored IN the hippocampus (indeed, the specific function of the hippocampus is difficult to pin down). There are a few mentions of this in the post, and it strikes me a overly localize-y. The hippocampus can also function as a gateway in the formation of memories, and the behavioral outcome to structural damage would be similar.2) There is, perhaps, a difference between “visual recognition memory” and “visual memory,” to the extent that the memories in question are literally modal or amodal. The phrase visual memory invokes a clearly modal representation of information in the environment, while visual recognition memory is somewhat more vague (though potentially more accurate). The authors seem to stick to visual recognition memory, and I think they’re really shooting for the ‘recognition’ part of things, anyway.Again, nit-picky, just had to get it off my chest 😉

By: Greg Laden

Greg Laden — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 14:37:45 +0000

Yes, that is a valid quibble, and it somewhat dates me. The way I learned it, peptides are short proteins. But these days, proteins are “poly peptides” and thus are different.So let’s call it “usually peptides”

By: Jerry Hodge

Jerry Hodge — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 13:24:06 +0000

Nice post! I have a minor quibble with step 2 of your description of synaptic transmission. Most neurotransmitters are small molecules, not proteins. Some neurotransmitters are peptides, or short chains of amino acids. Insulin is the only protein that I know of that is currently classed as a neurotransmitter.

By: BB

BB — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 11:54:24 +0000

A welcome flashback to my neuroscience days! Thanks for the summary/explanation. Ben