Abstract
The neural substrate of memory The ability to form memory is an essential trait that allows learning and the accumulation of knowledge. But what is a memory? There has been a long history of searching for the neuronal substrate that forms memory in the brain, and the emerging view is that ensembles of engram cells explain how memories are formed and retrieved. In a Review, Josselyn and Tonegawa discuss the evidence for engram cells as a substrate of memory, particularly in rodents; what we have learned so far about the features of memory, including memory formation, retrieval over time, and loss; and future directions to understand how memory becomes knowledge. Science , this issue p. eaaw4325
Keywords
EngramPsychologyCognitive scienceHistoryCognitive psychologyNeuroscience
Affiliated Institutions
Related Publications
Why there are complementary learning systems in the hippocampus and neocortex: Insights from the successes and failures of connectionist models of learning and memory.
Damage to the hippocampal system disrupts recent memory but leaves remote memory intact. The account presented here suggests that memories are first stored via synaptic changes ...
Differential modulation of a common memory retrieval network revealed by positron emission tomography
Functional neuroimaging is uniquely placed to examine the dynamic nature of normal human memory, the distributed brain networks that support it, and how they are modulated. Memo...
Reactivation of Hippocampal Ensemble Memories During Sleep
Simultaneous recordings were made from large ensembles of hippocampal "place cells" in three rats during spatial behavioral tasks and in slow-wave sleep preceding and following ...
Sleep promotes branch-specific formation of dendritic spines after learning
To sleep, perchance to remember Many researchers believe sleep helps us consolidate our memories, but no one knows quite how. Yang et al. investigated the precise role of sleep ...
Memory: Performance, knowledge, and experience
Abstract The relation between three aspects of memory—behaviour, knowledge, and conscious experience—is discussed. Memory research of the past has tended to concentrate on memor...
Publication Info
- Year
- 2020
- Type
- review
- Volume
- 367
- Issue
- 6473
- Citations
- 1001
- Access
- Closed
External Links
Social Impact
Altmetric
PlumX Metrics
Social media, news, blog, policy document mentions
Citation Metrics
1001
OpenAlex
Cite This
Sheena A. Josselyn,
Susumu Tonegawa
(2020).
Memory engrams: Recalling the past and imagining the future.
Science
, 367
(6473)
.
https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aaw4325
Identifiers
- DOI
- 10.1126/science.aaw4325