On Searching for Engrams

Abstract

Since all of the presentations of this meeting are devoted to the vertebrate brain, it should be pointed out that many of the problems associated with localizing the engram might be lessened if we look at some of the simple invertebrate preparations now under study. We do not seem to be able to deal in depth with the kind of information processing going on in the vertebrate brain, and I think that the exciting work going on in Aplesia and in the headless cockroach will help a great deal along these lines. In particular, if we could identify and focus on a synapse that was involved in learning, we might have a chance to discover the kinds of changes that occur when transmission across a synapse is facilitated, as is now required by many theories of learning and memory storage.