Hippocampus
cellular mechanisms are varied but can involve:
- enhanced neurotransmission within synapse--increase in synaptic efficacy; this is thought to reflect an increase in release of neurotransmitter
- formation of new connections
these cellular mechanisms of learning and memory have been observed within the hippocampus
- these changes are thought to reflect learning and formation of short-term memories especially associated with tasks involving spatial cues
similar plastic events have also been observed within other brain areas including the cerebral cortex (e.g., visual cortex) and cerebellum