Abstract
How does the brain couple a fleeting sensory input to a delayed reward during learning? A study in locusts shows that coincident firing of neurons can 'mark' a neuronal connection for later modulation. See Article p.47 Associative learning is thought to involve synaptic plasticity and neuromodulation, but how neuronal circuits determine which synapses should change when blanketed with a nonspecific reinforcer signal has remained mysterious. Focusing on the locust olfactory system, Stijn Cassenaer and Gilles Laurent now demonstrate that 'spike-timing-dependent plasticity' acts as a synaptic tag, which exclusively labels the synapses that act in response to specific odorants. This primes them for subsequent modification by octopamine, a neuromodulator involved in insect learning and memory. The findings explain how neuromodulators can produce specific circuit effects even though their release is both diffuse and delayed relative to sensory inputs.
Published Version
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