NEWS: High-res neurons

Eliezer S. Yudkowsky (sentience@pobox.com)
Fri, 01 Oct 1999 09:10:47 -0500

http://www.mpg.de/news99/news44_99.htm

Again with the "neurons are not tokens" thing.

> New laser method reveals high-density information storage in the brain
>
> Using a new method of infrared-guided laser stimulation, researchers
> at the Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry in Munich/Germany have
> discovered that information can be stored in the brain with very high
> spatial density on the surface of every single neuron (Science 1
> October 1999).

[...]

> It has been controversially debated how precise the
> underlying modifications of the neuronal membrane can be and where
> these modifications take place. The Max Planck researchers have
> discovered that these modifications are spatially highly restricted.
> Thus, information can probably be stored with very high density on
> the surface of neurons. During the experiments, it became apparent
> that a modification of the "receptor", the postsynaptic neuron, is all
> what is needed to understand the mechanism of long-term depression.
> Therefore, modifications of the amount of neurotransmitter that is
> released during LTD can be neglected.

-- 
           sentience@pobox.com          Eliezer S. Yudkowsky
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