ABSTRACT
It all seems simple: experience leaves a trace in the synaptic network. The mechanisms responsible for this synaptic trace are those of plasticity. Certain neurobiological theories regarding the neural substrates of representation propose the existence of such sets of neurons at which specific synaptic facilitations occur. The three terms, namely, sign of perception, synaptic trace, and signifier, would correspond to a signified that is nothing other than the perception of the experience of external reality. A striking example is offered by Freud himself in connection with his forgetting the name Signorelli as recounted in The Psychopathology of Everyday Life. Two names of painters came to mind, Botticelli and Boltraffio, but he could not manage to remember the name of the painter of the frescoes, Signorelli. For Freud, the sign of perception is wholly unable to become conscious. External reality can thus become inaccessible as such, which connects with what Freud (1938) says about reality never being knowable.
