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al.
, 2002). Pattern separation can be explained by heterosynaptic plasticity (Fazeli &
Collingridge, 1996; Rolls & Deco, 2002) and/or synaptic scaling mechanisms
(Turrigiano & Nelson, 2000). Synaptic scaling allows the total activity of a neuron to
be maintained within a set range, while preserving the distribution of synaptic
strengths.
The reviewed findings in this chapter are consistent with the proposal that the
hippocampus is critical for rapid encoding of events that compose episodic representations.
Different types of sensory and idiothetic information is integrated by hippocampal place cells
and this information is encoded in sequences through short- and long-term alterations of the
neuronal connectivity. Synaptic plasticity within hippocampal network mediates episodic
memories and links them together through their common elements. Still the understanding of
the cellular, synaptic and network plastic changes underlying most of place fields
transformations is still lacking, and the wider question of how these memories become
encoded in a form that is sustained after hippocampal damage, of course, remains
unanswered.
A
CKNOWLEDGMENTS
This work was supported by the Wellcome Trust and the Higher Education Authority
Programme for Research in Third-Level Institutions (SMOM) and the European Commission
PRESENCCIA EU FP6-027731 and Synthetic Forager FP7- ICT-217148 (MVSV).
R
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