https://www.researchgate.net/publication/361397955_Memory_Synaptic_or_Cellular_That_Is_the_Question Here is an answer: Cellular of course!! We are talking about biology, and while neuron are specialized cells they inherit many properties of cellular computation even when they are active in the brain. Synaptic plasticity makes no sense outside the context of neural plasticity.

Here is a typical description of what happens with software: “Consider encountering a computer connected to an input wire and an output wire. If we know what algorithm the computer implements, then there are two distinct ways to be uncertain about the output. We could be uncertain about the input…

The neuron is a highly specialized cell type, strongly compartmentalized with extensive axons and dendrites. Each compartment, dendritic or axonal, connects directly and specifically to other neurons. For this reason, there has always been a strong focus within neuroscience on the synapse as a specialized connective element between neurons, with…

One of my first memories is lying in my crib, where I was supposed to take a nap. My mother had put me in there. But I did not want to. I looked at the smooth bars of the bed and thought about how I could get out. Then I…

I don’t think neural networks are still in their infancy, I think they are moribund. Some say, they hit a roadblock. AI used to be based on rules, symbols and logic. Then probability and statistics came along, and neural networks were created as an efficient statistical paradigm. But unfortunately, the…

Memory has been extensively studied in neurobiology under the topics consolidation and reconsolidation, extinction learning, retrieval, and memory loss. Information retained in biological memory needs to be accessed, rearranged, transformed, used, stored away etc. To begin to discuss these complex concepts on a theoretical basis, we need to adapt a…

Cellular intelligence refers to information processing in single cells, i.e. genetic regulation, protein signaling and metabolic processing, all tightly integrated with each other. We study it to uncover general ‘rules of life’ with respect to the transmission of information, learning and memory, etc. …

Substantial work (NasifFJetal2005a, NasifFJetal2005b , DongYetal2005 , HuXT2004, Marinellietal2006) has shown that repeated cocaine administration changes the intrinsic excitability of prefrontal cortical (PFC) neurons (in rats), by altering the expression of ion channels. It downregulates voltage-gated K+ channels, and increases membrane excitability in principal (excitatory) prefrontal cortex (PFC) neurons.

We may stimulate neurons in a brain, e.g. that of a mouse, in a number of different ways, and thereby cause certain behaviors (e.g. HausserMetal2020). How does such an external intervention relate to letting the system operate without such an intervention? We have to bear in mind that a brain…