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Banbury Center Workshop Series

Neurocomputational Strategies: From Synapses to Behavior (1998)
Functional Organization of the Thalamus and Cortex and their Interactions (1999)
Toward Animal Models of Attention and Consciousness (2000)
Persistent Neural Activity (2000)
Can a Machine Be Conscious? (2001)
Communication in Brain Systems (2004)
Neurobiology of Decision-Making (2005)
Computational Approaches to Cortical Functions (2006)
New Frontiers in Studies of Nonconscious Processing (2007)
Theoretical and Experimental Approaches to Auditory and Visual Attention (2008)
Searching for Principles Underlying Memory in Biological Systems (2009)
Neuronal Response Variability and Cortical Computation (2011)
Connections and Communication in the Brain (2014)

Mu-ming Poo (invited speaker)

Modulation of synaptic efficacy and neuronal excitability by correlated activity

University of California, Berkeley

Correlated spiking of pre- and postsynaptic neurons can result in strengthening or weakening of synapses, depending on the temporal order of spiking. Recent findings indicate that there are narrow and cell type-specific temporal windows for synaptic modification and that generally accepted input- (or synapse-) specific rule for modification appears not to be strictly adhered. I will review our recent findings on the temporal and spatial aspects of synaptic modification. In addition, I will report our recent finding on cultured hippocampal neurons that repetitive correlated activity also results in a rapid and persistent enhancement of the intrinsic excitability of the presynaptic neuron, leading to a decreased threshold for spiking and a reduction in the variability of interspike intervals, apparently by a change in the property of sodium channels in the presynaptic neuron. The modification of presynaptic excitability also depends on the temporal order between pre- and postsynaptic spiking and the activation of postsynaptic NMDA receptors. Presynaptic inhibition of protein kinase C abolishes this change in excitability without affecting LTP. Such rapid activity-dependent changes in the efficacy of presynaptic spiking may play an important role in the processing and storage of information within the nervous system.