This book is dedicated to “learning and memory,” a concept at the heart of neuroscience. Learning is about acquiring knowledge and skills, forming memories, and how behavior changes based on past experiences. Learning is closely related to memory. Memory is about the recall and expression of what one has learned. This book presents contributions to learning and memory, ranging from molecular, cellular, anatomical, developmental, and systems to disease-oriented studies. As such, the book provides a gateway for newly interested investigators and serves as a resource for seasoned researchers of learning and memory. Targeted at students and researchers in biological, medical, and behavioral disciplines, this book offers an overview of the work that is being done in this field and highlights any gaps and areas that would benefit from further exploration. Individual chapters focus on research advances in different brain regions and experimental models. In addition, the book will contribute to the training of current and future neuroscientists.

With real-world examples, fascinating applications, and clear explanations, this breakthrough text helps uninitiated students understand the basic ideas and human impact of groundbreaking learning and memory research. Its unique organization into three sections—Behavioral Processes, Brain Substrates, and Clinical Perspectives—allows students to make connections across chapters while giving instructors the flexibility to assign the material that matches the course. The new edition again offers the book’s signature inclusion of human and non-human studies and full-color design and images. You’ll find even more meaningful real-life examples; new coverage of learning and memory research and brain-imaging; an expanded discussion of the role of genetics in producing individual differences; new material on the role of sleep in memory, and more.

What is memory and where in the brain is it stored? How is memory storage accomplished? Two scientists responsible for some of the fundamental research in the field answer these key questions in Memory: From Mind to Molecules, the first book for a general readership to offer an up-to-date, comprehensive overview of memory from molecules and cells to brain systems and cognition.

Combining a richly detailed account of scientists at work with a highly readable explanation of cutting-edge neuroscience, this book offers fascinating new insights on the cellular mechanisms of memory and learning.

‘Behavioral Neuroscience of Learning and Memory’ brings together the opinions and expertise of some of the world’s foremost neuroscientists in the field of learning and memory research. The volume provides a broad coverage of contemporary research and thinking in this field, focusing both on well established topics such as the medial temporal lobe memory system, as well as emerging areas of research such as the role of memory in decision making and the mechanisms of perceptual learning. Key intersecting themes include the molecular and cellular mechanisms of memory formation, the multiplicity of memory systems in the brain, and the way in which technological innovation is driving discovery. Unusually for a volume of this kind, this volume brings together research from both humans and animals—often relatively separate areas of discourse—to give a more comprehensive and integrated view of the field. The book will be of interest to both established researchers who wish to broaden their knowledge of topics outside of their specific areas of expertise, and for students who need a resource to help them make sense of the vast scientific literature on this subject.

Combining insights from both cognitive neuroscience and molecular biology, two of the world's leading experts address memory from molecules and cells to brain systems and cognition. What is memory and where in the brain is it stored? How is memory storage accomplished? This book touches on these questions and many more, showing how the recent convergence of psychology and biology has resulted in an exciting new synthesis of knowledge about learning and remembering. Memory: From Mind to Molecules is an ideal primer for courses on learning and memory or for general readers who are interested in discovering what is currently known about one of the basic aspects of human existence.

Of all the areas of biological science, there is, perhaps, none that has experienced in recent decades so great an increase in findings as neurobiology, the discipline that concerns memory in all of its myriad aspects. The notion of exploring memory, that capacity to store and recall individual experience, has received attention increasingly in our society. Of course, animals can exhibit astounding powers of memory, but memory is of paramount importance to human beings due to the significant role it plays in the transmission of our cultural traditions. It is tradition, after all, that ensures the passing on of qualities established by lineage, a continuous link from generation to generation, between past and present. And it is tradition that inspires bodies of thought (knowledge and customs, for example) to be handed down by a multiplicity of information bearing devices (i. e. , word, writing, picture, electronic data carriers). The objective of this book is to inform the reader in one clear volume of the groundwork which has been established in memory research from the diverse disciplines of neurobiology. It is intended, primarily, for students of medicine, zoology, biology, psychology and psychiatry, but will certainly prove to be a valuable resource to others with a healthy interest in the area.