Developmental Approaches to the Memory Process

It is proposed that evolution may not have established two separate mechanisms for developmental plasticity and memory, as effects are seen across a number of species, including non-mammalian, and across types of experience, from light deprivation to maze learning.

Abstract

In the last half of the nineteenth century, scientists in fields ranging from histology to psychiatry were proposing that memory and development are intimately linked to the subtle movements of neurons. The perspective that memory results from making new connections or by modifying existing ones remains an active area of study today and is revisited at several points. This chapter discusses that another line of interest in memory ontogeny and evolution began with the neural maturationist group. A useful aspect of the maturationist approach is the concept of a "memory organ," a neural component that evolution shaped for information storage. Experience-expectant neural plasticity often arises in a context of synapse overproduction. Protein is synthesized at synapses in response to neurotransmitter activation of receptors. Studies manipulating the complexity of the housing environment have indicated both microscopic and macroscopic experiential effects on brain structure. This chapter reiterates that the distinction between visual deprivation and rearing complexity is justified by the clear differences between their structural consequences.