The neurobiology of learning and memory is entering a new interdisciplinary era. Advances in neuropsychology have identified regions of brain tissue that are critical for certain types of function. Electrophysiological techniques have revealed behavioral correlates of neuronal activity. Studies of synaptic plasticity suggest that some mechanisms of memory formation may resemble those of neural development. Molecular approaches have also identified genes with patterns of expression that influence behavior. It is clear that future progress depends on interdisciplinary investigations. The current literature of learning and memory is large but fragmented. Until now, there has been no single journal devoted to this area of study and no dominant journal that demands attention by serious workers in the area, regardless of specialty. LEARNING & MEMORY provides a forum for these investigations in the form of research papers and review articles.

學(xué)習(xí)與記憶神經(jīng)生物學(xué)正進(jìn)入一個(gè)跨學(xué)科的新時(shí)代。神經(jīng)心理學(xué)的進(jìn)步已經(jīng)確定了大腦組織中對(duì)某些功能至關(guān)重要的區(qū)域。電生理學(xué)技術(shù)揭示了神經(jīng)元活動(dòng)的行為相關(guān)性。突觸可塑性的研究表明，記憶形成的某些機(jī)制可能類似于神經(jīng)發(fā)育的機(jī)制。分子方法也發(fā)現(xiàn)了具有影響行為的表達(dá)模式的基因。很明顯，未來(lái)的進(jìn)展取決于跨學(xué)科的研究。目前關(guān)于學(xué)習(xí)和記憶的文獻(xiàn)很多，但都是零散的。到目前為止，還沒(méi)有一份專門(mén)研究這一領(lǐng)域的期刊，也沒(méi)有一份占主導(dǎo)地位的期刊需要該領(lǐng)域的嚴(yán)肅工作者關(guān)注，無(wú)論他們的專業(yè)是什么。學(xué)習(xí)與記憶以研究論文和評(píng)論文章的形式為這些調(diào)查提供了一個(gè)論壇。