The circuitry and function of mammalian visual cortex are shaped by patterns of visual stimuli, a plasticity likely mediated by synaptic modifications. In the adult cat, asynchronous visual stimuli in two adjacent retinal regions controlled the relative spike timing of two groups of cortical neurons with high precision. This asynchronous pairing induced rapid modifications of intracortical conn...

Constraint-induced movement therapy improves outcome after chronic stroke, conforms experimental observations of neuronal plasticity, and proves the efficacy of intensive occupational therapy. More acutely instituted constraint-induced movement therapy has both practical and theoretic risks and benefits that deserve further careful evaluation.

Author details Department of Biology, Boston University, Boston, MA, USA. Department of Physiology, School of Basic Medicine, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430030, People’s Republic of China. Department of Pathophysiology, School of Basic Medicine, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430030, People’s Republi...

Synaptic efficacy can increase (synaptic facilitation) or decrease (synaptic depression) markedly within milliseconds after the onset of specific temporal patterns of activity. Recent evidence suggests that short-term synaptic depression contributes to low-pass temporal filtering, and can account for a well-known paradox - many low-pass neurons respond vigorously to transients and the onsets of...

Dendritic ion channels are essential for the regulation of intrinsic excitability as well as modulating the shape and integration of synaptic signals. Changes in dendritic channel function have been associated with many forms of synaptic plasticity. Recent evidence suggests that dendritic ion channel modulation and trafficking could contribute to plasticity-induced alterations in neuronal funct...

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The current view of the role of GABAergic interneurones in cortical-network function has shifted from one of merely dampening neuronal activity to that of an active role in information processing. In this review, we explore a potential role of hippocampal GABAergic interneurones in providing spatial and temporal conditions for modifications of synaptic weights during hippocampus-dependent memor...

MicroRNAs are a class of small RNA molecules that regulate the expression of a wide variety of genes. In this issue of Neuron, Rajasethupathy and colleagues identify 170 distinct microRNAs in Aplysia, including one, miR-124, that plays a critical role in the regulation of signaling molecules underlying synaptic plasticity and memory.