LTP and the Spaced Trials Effect

长时间的“填鸭式”学习是一种比间隔一小时或更长时间的多个培训课程（即，间隔试验）。学习的这一基本特征是否反映了编码记忆的大脑机制中一个尚未被认识的特征所施加的限制？如果是的话，有没有可能绕过这些限制来加速学习？目前的工作建立在最近的发现，从这个调查员的实验室，以解决这些基本问题。将使用针对不同神经行为水平的技术：i）脑细胞的电记录，以分析记忆相关的变化，ii）本地开发的光学显微镜技术，以测量两个脑细胞之间连接处的化学信号（即，突触），和iii）用于测量动物在自然的复杂环境中的学习的行为程序。这位研究者之前的工作表明，一类称为整合素的不寻常的大脑蛋白质调节与记忆相关的大脑区域中的突触，这些蛋白质具有新的特性，在突触水平上产生类似于学习研究中所见的间隔试验效应的现象。由于研究的时间范围接近课堂教学的时间，这些研究可以为基于大脑的改善教育策略增添一个全新的维度。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，该计划将为学生提供一个独特的机会（本科到博士后），其中一些人来自少数群体，共同致力于对基础科学和社会至关重要的问题。

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.