A few days ago we talked about the importance of synaptogenesis (the creation of new synapses) in the creation of new memories.
A synapse usually (not always) consists of an axon and a dendrite.
Therefore, one aspect of synaptogenesis is dendritogenesis.
Additionally, one aspect of dendritogenesis is dendritic ‘spinogenesis’.
Here’s an excellent recent summary article that explains how learning consists of:
1) new dendritic spines
2) bigger dendritic spines
3) more dendritic spines per bouton
https://www.ncbi.nlm…les/PMC9547722/
Here’s what a dendritic spine looks like on the inside.
As you can see, learning causes the creation of new structures and/or the change of existing structures.
These structures consist of an internal scaffold that can be built from scratch or remodeled if it already exists.
How is this scaffolding built/remodeled?
The dendritic spines are often vast molecular distances from the body of the cell so the individual units of the scaffold are created in the body of the neuron and then are literally walked to the spines on microtubules by amazing molecular machines: kinesin and dynein.
These machines are powered, of course, by ATP.
Here’s how it works!
The movement of kinesin is so intimately bound to ATP that mitochondria are often attached to kinesin.
So, you have this vast sea of random motion inside a cell (see the videos above) that is ordered by certain structures that limit the possible directions of that motion.
Random motion = ALL possible directions
Non-random motion = NOT-ALL possible directions
These structures limit the possible movements of particles/machines to a subset of all possible movements.
This limitation of random movement is how order is gradually built out of the chaos of random motion.
Physicist turned biologist, Peter Hoffman, does an excellent job of describing this in his book ‘Life’s Ratchet’.
I’ve linked it here: http://www.lostfalco.com/books/
So, how does this relate to our recent discussions of long term memory formation in Spaced Generation Learning?
Obviously, long term memory consists of synaptic structures that get built, are remodeled, and are maintained.
One of the major purposes of of these structures in long term memory is to build an accurate model of the world so that the output of our actions is planned, designed, and ordered (ie. our motor output is non-random).
This guided, non-random movement allows us to take the appropriate actions at the appropriate times in the appropriate order in order to attain our goals.
The ordered activity inside our brains builds neuronal structures that model the world so that we can order our activities in the outside world to maintain the structure that is ourselves (through survival movements AND reproductive movements).
Ordered activity in the brain creates more ordered activity by the body which allows the body and brain to maintain themselves. Wtf!?! That’s frickin’ cool.
Stated in a more motivational, self-help kind of way (lol):
Motor output guided by long term memory (aka experience) is the key expertise.
Start taking actions (random is fine at first), then begin ordering those actions.
That is not just ‘how’ we learn, that is ‘why’ we learn.
Standardize (ie. just start taking small actions), THEN optimize (ie. take the RIGHT small actions in the right ORDER).
See James Clear’s ‘Atomic Habits’ for a fantastic discussion of these ideas: http://www.lostfalco.com/books/
Happy reading!
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