LEARNING & MEMORY

The neurobiology of learning and memory is entering a new interdisciplinary era. Advances in neuropsychology have identified regions of brain tissue that are critical for certain types of function. Electrophysiological techniques have revealed behavioral correlates of neuronal activity. Studies of synaptic plasticity suggest that some mechanisms of memory formation may resemble those of neural development. Molecular approaches have also identified genes with patterns of expression that influence behavior. It is clear that future progress depends on interdisciplinary investigations. The current literature of learning and memory is large but fragmented. Until now, there has been no single journal devoted to this area of study and no dominant journal that demands attention by serious workers in the area, regardless of specialty. LEARNING & MEMORY provides a forum for these investigations in the form of research papers and review articles.

学习与记忆神经生物学正进入一个跨学科的新时代。神经心理学的进步已经确定了大脑组织中对某些功能至关重要的区域。电生理学技术揭示了神经元活动的行为相关性。突触可塑性的研究表明，记忆形成的某些机制可能类似于神经发育的机制。分子方法也发现了具有影响行为的表达模式的基因。很明显，未来的进展取决于跨学科的研究。目前关于学习和记忆的文献很多，但都是零散的。到目前为止，还没有一份专门研究这一领域的期刊，也没有一份占主导地位的期刊需要该领域的严肃工作者关注，无论他们的专业是什么。学习与记忆以研究论文和评论文章的形式为这些调查提供了一个论坛。