Introduction

This volume presents the views and findings of behaviorally and biologically oriented investigators invited to participate in the University of Iowa’s biennial learning and memory symposium. In recent years, a number of edited volumes have appeared in learning and memory. However, we believe that few of them involve as balanced a set of behavioral and biological contributions as presently achieved. Whereas the present chapters vary in their scope and depth of coverage, they are all amply referenced so that the researcher, teacher, and student can obtain the background information appropriate to their respective needs. It should also be noted that editors of multiauthored volumes sometimes face the unpleasant choice of waiting or not waiting for the very last contributors to proceed with publication. As a consequence, several topics originally planned for inclusion in this volume are absent. In any event for purposes of discussion, the content of the present contributions can be categorized in three groups, as detailed next.