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Krasnow Institute > Monday Seminars > Abstracts Molecular and Biophysical Determinants Louis D. Matzel Neurobiologists and psychologists have long-speculated that a distributed influence on "basal" synaptic function might predict or delimit individual differences in learning. This hypothesis has alluded empirical investigation, owing in part to our inability to compare specific synaptic interactions within and between the nervous systems of individual animals. We overcome this limitation by analyzing individual differences in the marine mollusc Hermissenda, the nervous system of which is comprised of identifiable cells and synaptic interactions. We find that a conserved level of basal synaptic efficacy is distributed throughout individual nervous systems, and accounts for much of the variability between animal's in their ability to learn. Moreover, this basal level of synaptic efficacy is independent of transmitter system or receptor class, and is regulated by a ubiquitous constituent of the presynaptic transmitter secretion process. In total, our results suggest the possibility that a single characteristic of the nervous system plays a central role in the determination of an animal's capacity for learning, and suggest specific and tractable strategies to modulate learning.
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