Molecular Mechanisms of Learning and Memory

Molecular Mechanisms of Learning and Memory

We have spent months discussing norms, valuation, salience, prediction error, and the neural systems involved in human behavior.

But now we must go much deeper into the actual molecular and cellular mechanisms through which learning and memory occur.

This meet-up will explore what it means to give a genuinely mechanistic explanation of human behavior, rather than merely descriptive theories or hypotheses about cognition and action.

Topics include:

• Declarative (explicit) vs non-declarative (implicit) memory
• Associative and non-associative learning
• Classical conditioning and synaptic plasticity
• Pre-synaptic and post-synaptic neurons
• Long-Term Potentiation (LTP) and Long-Term Depression (LTD)
• NMDA and AMPA receptors
• Hippocampal memory systems
• The molecular basis of learning and memory formation

Special emphasis will be placed on how changes at the synaptic and molecular level physically instantiate learning, memory, habits, conditioning, and behavioral capacities.

This discussion is ideal for anyone interested in neuroscience, philosophy of mind, psychology, cognition, AI, behavior, and the biological foundations of human agency.