From Molecules to Computational Modeling

Abstract

Invertebrates have provided key insights into the cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying different types of learning and memory. However, although many details of molecular processes are known, the ways in which they quantitatively account for memory are not well understood due, in part, to the nonlinearity and complexity of these molecular processes. Computational modeling of these complex process can provide valuable insights into their role in memory processes. This chapter reviews computational modeling developed to describe long-term synaptic plasticity associated with a simple form of learning called sensitization in a model invertebrate, the marine mollusk Aplysia. It also reviews how these models have successfully led to the development of strategies for enhancing synaptic plasticity and rescuing deficits in synaptic plasticity. Finally, the relevance of these findings to memory systems in other animals will be discussed.