Artificial Consciousness/Neural Correlates/Synaptic Models/Synaptogenesis
Synaptogenesis: How Synapses are Formed[edit | edit source]
While Synaptogenesis might be still somewhat controversial, at least after the growth stage of the Neuron, There is some indirect evidence that the percentage of Permease proteins goes up by proportion of weight of neuron puree after learning, suggesting that more synapses might be formed as part of the learning process. Since this is Neurochemistry, many scientists are not sure exactly how to interpret this, in terms of learning processes.
Some scientists note that we do not yet understand the functions of early DNA involved with the cascade reactions formed during LTP, and therefore that there might be a Synaptogenesis component to the LTP cascade reactions, that proliferates synapses as part of the conversion from short term to long term memory. If this synaptogenesis component exists, then it is thought that it might be responsive to synaptic activity, favoring more active synapses over less active synapses.
One possible interpretation is that during membrane replacement, some synapses get cloned according to a protein tag, that survives membrane replacement and indicates active synapses. Thus the more active a synapse is, the more likely that it will be cloned, and a new synapse will form near it. To keep the volume of synapses down, there would probably be a synapse absorption mechanism that absorbs synapses that become too inactive. In simulations we simply remove all synapses with 0 weights.--Graeme E. Smith 17:11, 23 February 2009 (UTC)