LTP and the Spaced Trials Effect

LTP 和间隔试验效应

• 批准号: 1146708
• 负责人: Gary Lynch
• 金额: $ 42.5万
• 依托单位: University of California-Irvine
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2012
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2012-07-01 至 2016-06-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1146708&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: LTP; Spaced; Trials; Effect

A long "cramming" session is a much less effective way of learning than are multiple training sessions separated by an hour or more (i.e., spaced trials). Does this basic characteristic of learning reflect limits imposed by an unrecognized feature of the brain mechanisms that encode memory? If so, is it possible to circumvent these limits so as to accelerate learning? The present work builds on recent discoveries from this investigator's laboratory to address these fundamental questions. Techniques targeted at different neurobehavioral levels will be used: i) electrical recordings from brain cells to analyze memory-related changes, ii) locally developed light microscopy techniques to measure chemical signaling at the junction between two brain cells (i.e., synapses), and iii) behavioral procedures for measuring learning by animals in naturalistic, complex environments. Previous work by this investigator showed that an unusual class of brain proteins called integrins regulates synapses in a memory-related brain region and that these proteins have novel properties that produce a phenomenon at the level of the synapse that resembles the spaced trials effect seen in learning studies. Because the time frame under study approximates that of a classroom session, these studies could add an entirely new dimension to brain-based strategies for improving education. They will also suggest pharmacological means for manipulating the timing rules that govern the formation of stable memories. Finally, the program will provide a unique opportunity for students (undergraduate through post-doctoral), several of whom are from minority groups, to work together on a problem that is critical to basic science and as well to society.

长时间的“临时抱佛脚”课程是一种比相隔一个小时或更长时间的多次培训课程（即间隔试验）更有效的学习方式。学习的这一基本特征是否反映了编码记忆的大脑机制中未被识别的特征所施加的限制？如果是这样，是否有可能绕过这些限制来加速学习？目前的工作建立在该研究人员实验室的最新发现的基础上，旨在解决这些基本问题。将使用针对不同神经行为水平的技术：i）脑细胞的电记录来分析与记忆相关的变化，ii）本地开发的光学显微镜技术来测量两个脑细胞（即突触）之间连接处的化学信号传导，以及iii）用于测量自然复杂环境中动物学习的行为程序。该研究人员之前的研究表明，一类不寻常的大脑蛋白质（称为整合素）调节与记忆相关的大脑区域中的突触，并且这些蛋白质具有新颖的特性，可以在突触水平上产生类似于学习研究中看到的间隔试验效应的现象。由于所研究的时间框架与课堂时间相近，因此这些研究可以为基于大脑的改善教育的策略添加全新的维度。他们还将提出操纵控制稳定记忆形成的时间规则的药理学方法。最后，该项目将为学生（本科生到博士后）（其中一些来自少数群体）提供独特的机会，共同解决对基础科学和社会至关重要的问题。