Mechanisms of Memory (3rd Ed.)

Coordinators: Sweatt J. David, Klann Eric, Gavin Cristin

Language: English

Approximative price 110.33 €

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560 p. · 21.6x27.6 cm · Paperback

Mechanisms of Memory, Third Edition is the only available comprehensive overview of the cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying higher-order learning and memory. Focusing on mechanisms relevant to hippocampus-dependent memory formation, the book progresses systematically from behavior to cellular physiology to the molecular and genetic levels. Moreover, it integrates modern discoveries concerning learning and memory disorders, from inherited disorders to aging disorders to psychiatric disorders. It emphasizes results from the cutting edge of contemporary methodologies, such as genetic engineering, molecular biology, complex behavioral characterization, cellular physiology, epigenetics, and molecular structure.

The third edition has been expanded to include eight new chapters covering the role of the prefrontal cortex in short-term and working memory, recent discoveries regarding the CNS dopamine system and its implications for reward-based learning, glial cell function in memory formation, the role of altered protein synthesis in long-term memory formation, AMPA receptor trafficking and regulation, and the role of epigenetics in memory formation. A new chapter on the basics of statistical analysis in the design and interpretation of behavioral experiments is of critical importance for students and early career researchers embarking on their own research in this area, and a new chapter on memory dysfunction in psychiatric disorders highlights the clinical relevance of understanding the molecular mechanisms of memory. Mechanisms of Memory continues to be the standard work on all aspects of learning and memory, and is essential reading for students and researchers alike.



  • Presents a unified view of memory mechanisms, from behavior to genes
  • Discusses clinically relevant memory disorders in the context of modern molecular research
  • Provides numerous practical examples on how to implement a research program in the learning and memory area
  • Offers a balanced treatment of the strengths and weaknesses inherent in modern experimental design
  • Emphasizes hippocampus-dependent memory formation while also drawing examples from many different brain regions, types of learning, and various animal model systems

1. Basics of Psychological Learning and Memory Theory 2. Studies of Human Learning and Memory 3. Short-Term and Working Memory 4. Non-Associative Learning and Memory (including pain plasticity) 5. Rodent Behavioral Learning and Memory Models 6. Associative Learning and Unlearning 7. Reward Learning and Addiction 8. Hippocampal Function in Cognition 9. Long-Term Potentiation 10. NMDA Receptor 11. Glial Cell Function in Memory Formation 11. Biochemical Mechanisms for Information Storage 12. Synaptic Structure, AMPA Receptors and Plasticity 13. Protein Synthesis in Long-Term Potentiation and Memory 14. Molecular Genetic Mechanisms for LTM 15. Epigenetic Mechanisms and Cellular Memory 16. Inherited Disorders of Human Memory 17. Memory Dysfunction in Psychiatric Disorders 18. Age-Related Memory Disorders Appendix I Hypothesis Testing Appendix II Basic Statistical Methods for Behavioral Data Analysis

Researchers, postdoctoral fellows, and advanced students in cognitive neuroscience, neurology, psychology, and other fields related to learning and memory

David Sweatt received a PhD in Pharmacology from Vanderbilt University for studies of intracellular signaling mechanisms. He then did a post-doctoral Fellowship at the Columbia University Center for Neurobiology and Behavior, working on memory mechanisms in the laboratory of Nobel laureate Eric Kandel. From 1989 to 2006 he was a member of the Neuroscience faculty at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas, rising through the ranks there to Professor and Director of the Neuroscience PhD program. In 2006 he moved to the University of Alabama at Birmingham where he served for ten years as the Evelyn F. McKnight endowed Chairman of the Department of Neurobiology at UAB Medical School, and the Director of the Evelyn F. McKnight Brain Institute at UAB. Dr. Sweatt’s laboratory studies biochemical mechanisms of learning and memory, most recently focusing on the role of epigenetic mechanisms in memory formation. In addition, his research program also investigates mechanisms of learning and memory disorders, such as intellectual disabilities, Alzheimer’s Disease, and aging-related memory dysfunction. He is currently the Allan D. Bass endowed Chairman of the Department of Pharmacology at Vanderbilt University Medical School, and has expanded his research program to include developing PharmacoEpigenetic approaches to enable new treatments for cognitive dysfunction. Dr. Sweatt has won numerous awards and honors, including an Ellison Medical Foundation Senior Scholar Award and election as a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. In 2013 he won the Ipsen Foundation International Prize in Neural Plasticity, one of the most prestigious awards in his scientific field. In 2014 he was the recipient of the PROSE Award for the most outstanding reference volume published in 2013, for his book Epigenetic Mechanisms in the Nervous System. The book was also one of five finalists for the 2014 Dawkins Award for the most outstanding academic book published in 2
  • Presents a unified view of memory mechanisms, from behavior to genes
  • Discusses clinically relevant memory disorders in the context of modern molecular research
  • Provides numerous practical examples on how to implement a research program in the learning and memory area
  • Offers a balanced treatment of the strengths and weaknesses inherent in modern experimental design
  • Emphasizes hippocampus-dependent memory formation while also drawing examples from many different brain regions, types of learning, and various animal model systems