http://cdp.sagepub.com/content/23/5/311.abstract?
- Behavioral and Systems Neuroscience, Department of Psychology, and W. M. Keck Center for Collaborative Neuroscience, Rutgers University
- Tracey J. Shors, Behavioral and Systems Neuroscience, Department of Psychology, Rutgers University, 152 Frelinghuysen Rd., Piscataway, NJ 08854-8020 E-mail: shors@rutgers.edu
Abstract
The brain continues to produce new neurons
throughout life. For instance, the hippocampus (a brain region
necessary for select
learning processes) produces thousands of new
neurons each day. However, a significant number of them die and do so
within
just a few weeks of their birth. Laboratory animals
that are trained to learn a new skill between one and two weeks after
the new cells are generated retain most cells that
would have otherwise died. The types of skills that keep new cells alive
are not limited to those that depend on the
hippocampus but rather include those that are effortful to learn,
requiring more
training trials or time spent training.
Importantly, training alone is not sufficient to increase cell survival;
animals that
are trained but do not learn do not retain more
cells than animals that are not trained. Therefore, learning increases
the
survival of newly generated cells in the
hippocampus as long as the learning experience is new, effortful, and
successful.
Once rescued, the vast majority of these cells
differentiate into neurons, thereby forming synapses and generating
action
potentials as they become incorporated into the
existing architecture and functional circuitry of the adult brain.
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