In Search of Memory: The Emergence of a New Science of Mind (54 page)

RNA (ribonucleic acid):
A nucleotide related to DNA, the class of nucleic acid that includes messenger RNA.

Schaffer collateral pathway:
A pathway in the hippocampus that is important for explicit memory storage and has thus served as an important experimental model of the synaptic change essential for memory.

second messenger:
A chemical that is produced inside the cell when a neurotransmitter binds to a particular class of receptor on the surface. Cyclic AMP is a common second messenger in neurons (Compare
first messenger;
see
cyclic AMP; metabotropic receptor.
)

sensation:
Touch, pain, sight, hearing, smell, taste.

sensitization:
A type of nonassociative learning in which exposure to a noxious stimulus produces a stronger reflex response to other stimuli, even innocuous ones. (See
heterosynaptic facilitation.
)

sensory neuron:
One of the three major functional types of neurons. Sensory neurons transmit information about environmental stimuli from a sensory receptor to other neurons in a sensory pathway. (Compare
interneuron; motor neuron; sensory receptor.
)

serotonin:
A modulatory neurotransmitter in the brain that has been implicated in the regulation of mood states, including depression, anxiety, food intake, and impulsive violence.

signal:
A change in the membrane potential of a postsynaptic neuron as a result of input from a presynaptic neuron or activation of a sensory receptor. There are two types of signals. Local signals are synaptic potentials. These are spatially restricted and do not propagate actively. By contrast, propagated signals are action potentials. These propagate along the whole length of the axon to the synaptic terminals. The action potential signals are highly stereotyped throughout the nervous system; the “message” conveyed by an action potential depends entirely on the pathway in which the active neuron is located.

sodium
(
Na
⁺
): A positively charged ion that is an essential element for nervous system function. Sodium concentrations inside the resting neuron are lower than those outside the cell.

somatosensory cortex:
The portion of the cerebral cortex, located in the parietal lobe, that processes sensations, including, touch, vibration, pressure, and sense of limb position. (See
parietal lobe
.)

somatosensory system:
The sensory system concerned with sensation from the skin at the body surface (touch, vibration, pressure, pain) and the sense of limb position. Signals are carried from the peripheral nervous system to the brain.

spatial map:
An internal representation of the external environment, found in the hippocampus as a combination of many place cells. A type of cognitive map.

spatial memory:
A form of explicit memory concerned with finding one’s way around in space.

spinal cord:
A part of the central nervous system that controls movements of the limbs and trunk, processes sensory information from the skin, joints, and muscles of the limbs and trunk, and controls autonomic function. (See
brain.
)

spinal reflex:
An involuntary movement triggered by sensory input and produced by neural circuitry limited to the spinal cord.

stimulus:
Any event that provokes a response. Stimuli possess four attributes: modality (pathway), intensity, duration, and location.

striatum:
A part of the basal ganglion that plays a role in movement and cognition. The striatum consists of the putamen, the caudate nucleus, and the nucleus accumbens. It functions abnormally in people with Parkinson’s disease. It is the mediator of pleasurable sensations and a site of abnormality in schizophrenia. (Compare
basal ganglia.
)

synapse:
The specialized site of communication between two neurons. A synapse consists of three components: a presynaptic terminal, a postsynaptic cell, and a zone of opposition—the synaptic cleft in between. Depending on the nature of the zone of opposition, synapses can be categorized as chemical or electrical, each using a different mechanism of synaptic transmission.

synaptic cleft:
The gap between two neurons at a chemical synapse.

synaptic marking:
A process by which synapses are tagged, priming them for long-term strengthening.

synaptic plasticity:
An increase or decrease in synaptic strength, for short or long periods, following specific patterns of neuronal activity. Shown to be critically involved in learning and memory.

synaptic potential:
A graded change in the membrane potential of a postsynaptic neuron produced by a signal, usually chemical, from a presynaptic neuron. A synaptic potential can be either excitatory or inhibitory; if sufficiently strong, an excitatory synaptic potential will trigger an action potential in the postsynaptic cell. Thus the synaptic potential is an intermediate step linking an action potential in the presynaptic terminal with an action potential in the postsynaptic cell.

synaptic terminal:
See
presynaptic terminal
.

synaptic transmission:
The mechanism by which one neuron influences the excitability of another, either chemically or electrically. Chemical synaptic transmission is mediated by the release of a neurotransmitter from the presynaptic cell, which acts on receptors in the postsynaptic cell. Electrical synaptic transmission is mediated by the flow of current across a junction between two neurons.

synaptic vesicle:
A membrane-bound sac containing about 5000 molecules of neurotransmitters to be released from the presynaptic terminal in an all-or-nothing way. (See
quantum; synaptic transmission.
)

temporal lobe:
One of the four lobes of the cerebral cortex. Located below the frontal lobe and parietal lobe, the temporal lobe is primarily concerned with hearing and vision, as well as aspects of learning, memory, and emotion. (Compare
frontal lobe; occipital lobe; parietal lobe.
)

thalamus:
A major relay point of the brain, it processes most of the sensory information reaching the cerebral cortex from the various sensory systems and motor information that is conveyed from the motor cortices to muscles for movement.

transcription:
The manufacture of RNA from a DNA template.

transgene:
A foreign gene that has been introduced into the genome of another organism.

transgenesis:
The introduction of genes from one organism into the genome of another in such a way that the genes can be passed onto progeny.

translation:
The production of proteins from messenger RNA, based on the genetic code.

transmitter:
See
neurotransmitter
.

transmitter-gated channel:
An ion channel whose opening and closing is regulated by the binding of a chemical messenger, such as a neurotransmitter. The binding of the transmitter can regulate the movement of ions directly or lead to the activation of a second messenger. Transmitter-gated channels can be excitatory or inhibitory. They are involved in neuron-to-neuron communication, whereas voltage-gated channels are involved in generating the action potential within a single neuron. (Compare
voltage-gated channel
.)

trial-and-error learning:
See
operant conditioning.

unconditioned stimulus:
A rewarding or aversive stimulus that always produces an overt response.

visual system:
A sensory pathway, stretching from the retina to the cortex, that detects stimuli in the environment and produces an image of the external world.

voltage-gated channel:
An ion channel that opens and closes in response to changes in the membrane potential of the cell. Voltage-gated channels in neurons can be permeable to sodium, potassium, or calcium. Voltage-gated channels can, for example, generate the action potential or let in calcium to trigger neurotransmitter release, depending on the channel and its location in the cell. (Compare
transmitter-gated channel
.)

voluntary attention:
Attention focused on a particular stimulus, whether internal or external, in accordance with one’s own predisposition; it is determined internally, by one’s brain processes. (Compare
reflex
.)

Wernicke’s area:
The portion of the left parietal lobe concerned with comprehension of language. (Compare
Broca’s area
.)

working memory:
A distinct type of short-term memory sub-served in part by the prefrontal cortex, it integrates moment-to-moment perceptions over a relatively short period and combines them with memories of past experiences. Working memory is needed for many apparently simple aspects of everyday life, such as carrying on a conversation, adding a list of numbers, or driving a car. This memory is defective in individuals with schizophrenia.

These notes are designed to help the reader to sources of quotations and other points of reference that are referred to in each chapter and to lead to additional sources of information.

Preface

Two papers announced the structure of DNA and its implications for replication: J. D. Watson and F. H. C. Crick, “Molecular structure of nucleic acids; A structure for deoxyribose nucleic acid,”
Nature
171 (1953): 737–38; and J. D. Watson and F. H. C. Crick, “Genetical implications of the structure of deoxyribonucleic acid,”
Nature
171 (1953): 964–67.

The first edition of our textbook is E. R. Kandel and J. H. Schwartz,
Principles of Neural Science
(New York: Elsevier, 1981).

Some of the autobiographical details discussed in this book were described in a highly abbreviated form in my Nobel lecture, which was printed as E. R. Kandel,
The Molecular Biology of Memory Storage: A Dialog Between Genes and Synapses, Les Prix Nobel
(Stockholm: Almquist & Wiksell International, 2001).

1: Personal Memory and the Biology of Memory Storage

For a discussion of mental time travel, see D. Schacter,
Searching for Memory: The Brain, the Mind and the Past
(New York: Basic Books, 1996).

For two excellent histories on the emergence of genetics and molecular biology, see H. F. Judson,
The Eighth Day of Creation
(New York: Simon & Schuster, 1979); and F. Jacob,
The Logic of Life: A History of Heredity
(New York: Pantheon, 1982).

For a discussion of the biology of memory, see L. Squire and E. R. Kandel,
Memory: From Mind to Molecules
(New York: Scientific American Books, 1999).

Especially valuable for the history of biology are these four books: C. Darwin,
On the Origin of Species
(1859; repr., Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1964); E. Mayr,
The Growth of Biological Thought: Diversity, Evolution and Inheritance
(Cambridge, Mass.: Belknap, 1982); R. Dawkins,
The Ancestor’s Tale: A Pilgrimage to the Dawn of Evolution
(New York: Houghton Mifflin, 2004); and S. J. Gould, “Evolutionary Theory and Human Origins” in
Medicine, Science, and Society,
ed. K. J. Isselbacher (New York: Wiley, 1984).

For technical discussions of the emergence of the new science of mind, see T. D. Albright, T. M. Jessell, E. R. Kandel, and M. I. Posner, “Neural science: A century of progress and the mysteries that remain,”
Neuron
(Suppl.) 25(S2) (2000): 1–55; E. R. Kandel, J. H. Schwartz, and T. M. Jessell,
Principles of Neural Science
, 4th ed. (New York: McGraw-Hill, 2000).

Other information for this chapter was drawn from: Y. Dudai,
Memory from A to Z
(Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002).

2: A Childhood in Vienna

I have been much influenced by the discussion of the history of the Jews in Vienna by G. E. Berkley,
Vienna and Its Jews: The Tragedy of Success, 1880s–1980s
(Cambridge, Mass.: Abt Books, 1988) and C. E. Schorske,
Fin de Siècle Vienna: Politics and Culture
(New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1980). Berkley’s book is the source for what “the Viennese have managed to do overnight” (p. 45), for William Johnston’s comments about Vienna (p. 75), for Hans Ruzicka (p. 303), and for the
Reichspost’s
editorial (p. 307). Schorske’s discussion of the cultural explosion in Vienna in 1900 is now a classic; quotation about middle-class culture from p. 298.

For Hitler’s expectations before the Anschluss, see I. Kershaw,
Hitler, 1936–1945: Nemesis
(New York: W.W. Norton, 2000); and E. B. Bukey,
Hitler’s Austria: Popular Sentiment in the Nazi Era, 1938–1945
(Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2000).

Cardinal Innitzer’s meeting with Hitler is drawn from G. Brook-Shepherd,
Anschluss
(London: Macmillan, 1963), pp 201–2. That meeting is also discussed in Berkley,
Vienna and Its Jews
, p. 323, and in Kershaw,
Hitler
, pp. 81–82.

Carl Zuckmayer’s description of Vienna in 1938 is from his autobiography,
Als Wärs ein Stück von Mir
(Frankfurt: Fischer Taschenbuch Verlag, 1966), p. 84; my translation. An English-language version was published as
A Part of Myself: Portrait of an Epoch
, trans. Richard and Clara Winston (New York: Carroll & Graf, 1984).

For Hitler’s aspirations and accomplishments as an artist, see P. Schjeldahl, “The Hitler show,”
The New Yorker
, April 1, 2002, p. 87.

For the taking of neighbors’ property, see T. Walzer and S. Templ,
Unser Wien: “Arisierung” auf Österreichisch
(Berlin: Aufbau-Verlag, 2001), p. 110.

For the role of the Catholic Church in the promulgation of anti-Semitism, see F. Schweitzer,
Jewish-Christian Encounters over the Centuries: Symbiosis, Prejudice, Holocaust, Dialogue
, ed. M. Perry (New York: P. Lang, 1994), especially pp. 136–37.

Other information for this chapter was drawn from my father’s file at the Kultusgemeinde in Vienna and from the following:

Applefeld, A. “Always, darkness visible.”
New York Times
, January 27, 2005, p. A25.

Beller, S.
Vienna and the Jews, 1867–1938: A Cultural History
. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1989.

Clare, G.
Last Waltz in Vienna
. New York: Avon, 1983, especially pp. 176–77.

Freud, S.
The Psychopathology of Everyday Life
. Translated by James Strachey. 1901. Reprint, New York: W. W. Norton, 1989.

Gedye, G. E. R.
Betrayal in Central Europe: Austria and Czechoslovakia, The Fallen Bastions
. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1939, especially p. 284.

Kamper, E. “Der schlechte Ort zu Wien: Zur Situation der Wiener Juden von dem Anschluss zum Novemberprogrom 1938.” In
Der Novemberprogrom 1938: Die “Reichkristallnacht” in Wien
. Vienna: Wienkultur, 1988, especially p. 36.

Lee, A. “La ragazza,”
The New Yorker
, February 16–23, 2004, pp. 174–87, especially p. 176.

Lesky, E.
The Vienna Medical School of the Nineteenth Century
. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1976.

McCragg, W. O., Jr.
A History of the Hapsburg Jews, 1670–1918
. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1992.

Neusner, J.
A Life of Yohanan ben Zaggai: Ca. 1–80 C.E.
2nd ed. Leiden: Brill, 1970.

Pulzer, P.
The Rise of Political Anti-Semitism in Germany and Austria
. Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press, 1988.

Sachar, H. M.
Diaspora: An Inquiry into the Contemporary Jewish World
. New York: Harper & Row, 1985.

Schütz, W. “The medical faculty of the University of Vienna sixty years following Austria’s annexation.”
Perspectives in Biology and Medicine
43 (2000): 389–96.

Spitzer, L.
Hotel Bolivia
. New York: Hill & Wang, 1998.

Stern, F.
Einstein’s German World
. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1999.

Weiss, D. W.
Reluctant Return: A Survivor’s Journey to an Austrian Town
. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1999.

Zweig, S.
World of Yesterday
. New York: Viking, 1943.

3: An American Education

For a discussion of the academic motivation of Viennese émigrés, see G. Holton and G. Sonnert, “What happened to Austrian refugee children in America?” in
Österreichs Umgang mit dem Nationalsozialismus
(Vienna: Springer Verlag, 2004).

The Yeshivah of Flatbush is now the largest and still one of the best Jewish day schools in the United States. In 1927 the founding parent body asked Dr. Joel Braverman, an exceptional educational leader, to head the school. He recruited an outstanding Hebrew-speaking faculty from what was then Palestine and from Europe and initiated a radical change in Jewish education in the United States. This change had three components. First, rather than conduct the religious studies—fully half the curriculum—in English or Yiddish, the common language among Jewish immigrants of the day, Braverman insisted on carrying out these classes exclusively in Hebrew, a language that was then rarely spoken outside of Palestine. The Yeshivah of Flatbush was the first school in the country practicing the principle of “Hebrew in Hebrew.” Second, the secular curriculum received equal emphasis, and was taught in English by an excellent faculty. Finally, the Yeshivah was modern and enrolled an almost equal number of girls and boys. Later, many other day schools followed in the footsteps of the Yeshivah of Flatbush. For a history of this institution, see Jodi Bodner DuBow, ed.,
The Yeshivah of Flatbush: The First Seventy-five Years
(Brooklyn: Yeshivah of Flatbush, 2002).

Erasmus Hall High School was founded in 1787. With an initial enrollment of twenty-six boys, it was the first secondary school to be chartered by the Regents of the University of the State of New York. Often called the “mother of high schools,” it generated the development of the secondary school system in New York State. The original building, which still stands at the center of the campus, was built in the year of the school’s founding with money contributed by John Jay, Aaron Burr, and Alexander Hamilton. For a history of Erasmus, see Rita Rush, ed.,
The Chronicles of Erasmus Hall High School
(New York: Board of Education, 1987). The yearbook of my high school class of 1948,
The Arch
, was also an invaluable source for this section.

Harvard College was founded in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 1636. In the years I was at Harvard, it was led by James Bryant Conant. A first-rate chemist, Conant introduced four major initiatives that further assured Harvard’s intellectual preeminence. The first was a system of ad hoc committees made up of independent scholars to evaluate the eligibility for tenure of each academic appointment. This step ensured that tenure was based on scholarly accomplishment rather than social status or other unrelated factors. The second initiative was the National Scholars Program, which guaranteed a full scholarship for two deserving students from each state in the union, thereby ensuring geographic diversity as well as excellence in the student body. Third, Conant established a program of general education that required students to take courses in both the sciences and the humanities, ensuring that they received a liberal arts education. Fourth, he signed an agreement with Radcliffe College that gave its women students free access to classes at Harvard. See H. Hawkins,
Between Harvard and America: The Educational Leadership of Charles W. Eliot
(New York: Oxford University Press, 1972); and R. A. McCaughey, “The transformation of American academic life: Harvard University 1821–1892,”
Perspectives in American History
8 (1974): 301–5.

For a discussion of Freud, see P. Gay,
Freud: A Life for Our Time
(New York: W. W. Norton, 1988); and E. Jones,
The Life and Work of Sigmund Freud
, 3 vols. (New York: Basic Books, 1952–1957).

For a discussion of behaviorism, see E. Kandel,
Cellular Basis of Behavior: An Introduction to Behavioral Neurobiology
(San Francisco: Freeman, 1976); J. A. Gray,
Ivan Pavlov
(New York: Penguin Books, 1981); and G. A. Kimble,
Hilgard and Marquis’ Conditioning and Learning
, 2nd ed. (New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts, 1961).

Other information for this chapter was drawn from the following:

Freud, S.
Beyond the Pleasure Principle
. Translated by James Strachey. 1922. Reprint, New York: Liveright, 1950; quotation on p. 83.

Kandel, E. “Carl Zuckmayer, Hans Carossa, and Ernst Jünger: A study of their attitude toward National Socialism.” Senior thesis, Harvard University, June 1952.

Stern, F.
Dreams and Delusions
. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1987.

———.
Einstein’s German World
. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1999.

Vietor, K.
Georg Büchner
. Bern: A. Francke AG Verlag, 1949.

———.
Goethe
. Bern: A. Francke AG Verlag, 1949.

———.
Der Junge Goethe
. Bern: A. Francke AG Verlag, 1950.

4: One Cell at a Time

For psychoanalysis and brain function, see L. S. Kubie, “Some implications for psychoanalysis of modern concepts of the organization of the brain,”
Psychoanalytic Quarterly
22 (1953): 21–68; M. Ostow, “A psychoanalytic contribution to the study of brain function. I: The frontal lobes,”
Psychoanalytic Quarterly
23 (1954): 317–38; and M. Ostow, “A psychoanalytic contribution to the study of brain function II: The temporal lobes,”
Psychoanalytic Quarterly
24 (1955): 383–423.