ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the authors examine how well experimental evidence supports this conceptual framework. Associativity makes it possible for coincident inputs to influence each other's synaptic strengths and is particularly well suited for associative learning, they discuss later in the chapter. Besides homeostatic synaptic scaling, there are other forms of homeostatic synaptic plasticity with different properties and likely distinct underlying mechanisms. In summary, a wealth of mechanisms underlying synaptic plasticity, including changes in presynaptic neurotransmitter release probability, postsynaptic sensitivity to neurotransmitter release, structure and number of synapses, and homeostatic synaptic plasticity, can be used to adjust connection strengths between two neurons. Of the forms of memory tested in rodents, this spatial memory most closely resembles explicit memory in humans. Formation of new explicit memory in humans and spatial memory in rodents requires the hippocampus, which, along with the nearby entorhinal cortex, also plays a central role in spatial representation in mammals.
