9511215 William Wright One of the goals of neuroscience is to understand what happens in our brains when we learn. A powerful approach to finding answers to this question is provided by studying the brains of early animals and asking how much of what happens is similar to processing in early animals and how much occurs only in higher animals. The work of this group of neuroscientists examines mechanisms of learning in marine mollusks. It charts changes in specific cellular mechanisms of learning in a specific behavior in several species of these animals. By monitoring in parallel correlated changes in learning capabilities, this study will provide more precise insights into the roles of these cellular mechanisms in learning. Besides the knowledge of whether and how mechanisms of learning change across species, this work will also give insights into learning mechanisms in higher animals.
