ABSTRACT
Memory, Learning, and Synaptic Plasticity A hallmark of the nervous system is its ability to change depending on experiences. In the preceding chapters, we have learned how the nervous system processes sensory information and how it organizes motor output. However, the nervous system is much more than a giant sensorimotor circuit. In addition to acquiring sensory information from the environment and making appropriate responses, animals are constantly learning from their sensory experiences and from the consequences of their actions. These learning processes and events can cause lasting changes in the brain that make it possible to retain the learned information we call memory. Learning enables animals to adapt to their changing world much faster than by evolutionary mechanisms, and its importance to animals and humans cannot be overstated. Memory gives us much of our individuality, as we are profoundly shaped by what we can remember from our past experiences.
