Access
To read this story in full you will need to login or make a payment (see right).
News and Views
Nature 421, 29-30 (2 January 2003) | doi:10.1038/421029a
Neurobiology: The importance of depression
Charles F. Stevens
Abstract
We, and other animals, can generally pinpoint the source of a sound in space regardless of how loud it is. A study involving experimentation and computer modelling reveals how our brains perform this clever task.
Information flows from one nerve cell to the next at highly specialized points of contact called synapses. All synapses exhibit depression1 — a decrease in the strength of the connection that occurs after rapid and repeated use — and this might seem like a bad idea, a design fault that prevents synapses from keeping up with the demands placed on them.
To read this story in full you will need to login or make a payment (see right).