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The nature of memory
Randy Gallistel
Rutgers University
In the behaviorist framework within which most neuroscientific
discussions of memory occur, memory is conceived of as the rewiring
(changes in synaptic conductance) produced by experience, which
rewiring adapts the animal's behavior to its circumstances. In this
conception, the problem of coding does not arise. From an information
processing perspective, on the other hand, memory is the mechanism
that carries information forward in time. Formulated this way, the
coding question is central to our understanding of the mechanism of
memory. Yet, the coding question is seldom raised in discussion of the
neurobiological mechanisms of memory and the most popular suggestions
regarding this mechanism (e.g., LTP) do not offer any very plausible
solutions to it. Moreover, current autoassociative memory proposals
based on something like this mechanism have shockingly poor
quantitative properties. It is argued that we should shift our focus
to the coding problem