Abstract

Current thinking about long-term memory in the cortex is focused on changes in the strengths of connections between neurons. But ongoing structural plasticity in the adult brain, including synapse formation/elimination and remodelling of axons and dendrites, suggests that memory could also depend on learning-induced changes in the cortical 'wiring diagram'. Given that the cortex is sparsely connected, wiring plasticity could provide a substantial boost in storage capacity, although at a cost of more elaborate biological machinery and slower learning.

1. Cold Spring Harbour Laboratory, Cold Spring Harbour, New York 11724, USA
2. Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California 90089, USA
3. Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Cold Spring Harbour, New York 11724, USA Email: mel@usc.edu

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