Long-term Potentiation: Does It Happen in the Normal Brain? When and How?

We were all excited when we learned that synaptic efficacy in the hippocampus can be enhanced for hours (Bliss & Lømo, 1973). We were equally enthusiastic about Graham Goddard’s finding that these plastic modifications can last for days or even weeks (Douglas & Goddard, 1975). There must be a mechanism in the brain that deposits our experience into a permanent store using the language of the neurons. And now we have a model: long-term potentiation (LTP)!