ArticleFrontiers in systems neuroscience2018
The Synaptic Theory of Memory: A Historical Survey and Reconciliation of Recent Opposition.
Article in Frontiers in systems neuroscience, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 40 papers.
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Who cites it
40 citing papers in PubMed.
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- From multisensory integration to synaesthesia: a boundary-preserving continuum and research framework.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Article
- Tension shapes memory: computational insights into neural plasticity.Frontiers in computational neuroscience · 2026Article
- Astrocyte-Mediated Plasticity: Multi-Scale Mechanisms Linking Synaptic Dynamics to Learning and Memory.Cells · 2025Review
- Stability through plasticity: Finding robust memories through representational drift.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2025Article
- Maintenance of memory by negative-feedback of synaptic protein elimination: Modeling KIBRA-bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- Developmental and Epileptic Encephalopathy: Pathogenesis of Intellectual Disability Beyond Channelopathies.Biomolecules · 2025Review
- Dynamic changes in the hippocampal neuronal circuits activity following acute stress revealed by miniature fluorescence microscopy imaging.Molecular brain · 2024Article
- The Role of Cells in Encoding and Storing Information: A Narrative Review of Cellular Memory.Cureus · 2024Review
- Neural flip-flops I: Short-term memory.PloS one · 2024Article
- A stay of execution: ATF4 regulation and potential outcomes for the integrated stress response.Frontiers in molecular neuroscience · 2023Review
- Perspectives on emotional memory images and the persistence of pain.Frontiers in pain research (Lausanne, Switzerland) · 2023Article
- Cognitive neuroscience perspective on memory: overview and summary.Frontiers in human neuroscience · 2023Article
- Past Adversity Influencing Now (PAIN): perspectives on the impact of temporal language on the persistence of pain.Frontiers in pain research (Lausanne, Switzerland) · 2023Article
- Cognitive and neural mechanisms underlying false memories: misinformation, distortion or erroneous configuration?AIMS neuroscience · 2023Review
- Selective Menin Deletion in the Hippocampal CA1 Region Leads to Disruption of Contextual Memory in theCells · 2022Article
- Aberrant cortical spine dynamics after concussive injury are reversed by integrated stress response inhibition.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2022Article
- Review
- Belief traps: Tackling the inertia of harmful beliefs.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2022Article
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2 authors.
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Abstract
Trettenbrein (2016) has argued that the concept of the synapse as the locus of memory is outdated and has made six critiques of this concept. In this article, we examine these six critiques and suggest that the current theories of the neurobiology of memory and the empirical data indicate that synaptic activation is the first step in a chain of cellular and biochemical events that lead to memories formed in cell assemblies and neural networks that rely on synaptic modification for their formation. These neural networks and their modified synaptic connections can account for the cognitive basis of learning and memory and for memory deterioration in neurological disorders. We first discuss Hebb's (1949) theory that synaptic change and the formation of cell assemblies and phase sequences can link neurophysiology to cognitive processes. We then examine each of Trettenbrein's (2016) critiques of the synaptic theory in light of Hebb's theories and recent empirical data. We examine the biochemical basis of memory formation and the necessity of synaptic modification to form the neural networks underlying learning and memory. We then examine the use of Hebb's theories of synaptic change and cell assemblies for integrating neurophysiological and cognitive conceptions of learning and memory. We conclude with an examination of the applications of the Hebb synapse and cell assembly theories to the study of the neuroscience of learning and memory, the development of computational models of memory and the construction of "intelligent" robots. We conclude that the synaptic theory of memory has not met its demise, but is essential to our understanding of the neural basis of memory, which has two components: synaptic plasticity and intrinsic plasticity.
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