In a permanently changing environment, it is by no means an easy task to distinguish potentially important events from negligible ones. Yet, to survive, every animal has to continuously face that challenge. How does the brain accomplish this feat? Building on previous work in "Drosophila melanogaster" visual learning, we have developed an…

Examined effect of emotion on recall of self-generated paired associates under conditions of immediate and delayed retention. Results showed that, with immediate retention, recall of associates to emotional stimuli was significantly lower than to neutral stimuli and, with delayed retention, associations to emotional stimuli were better recalled.…

Two studies examined the impact of temporal synchrony on infants' learning of and memory for sight-sound pairs. Findings indicated that 7-month-olds had no difficulty learning auditory-visual pairs regardless of temporal synchrony, remembering them 10 minutes later and 1 week later. Three-month-olds showed poorer learning in no-synchrony than in…

Projects that soon a complete mechanistic understanding of simple forms of learning will be available. Describes some of the recent advances in neuroscience and psychology in understanding the changes in neural circuits that occur during certain behavioral situations. Suggests that learning involves the activation of second messenger systems. (TW)

Describes recent research findings in the area of neurobiology and its relationship to learning and memory. The article provides definitions of associative and nonassociative learning, identifies essential memory trace circuits of the mammalian brain, and discusses some neural mechanisms of learning. (TW)