edited by A Neugebauer (Istituto Internazionale di Genetica e Biofisica, CNR, Napoli, Italy)

This volume looks at the associative mechanisms of the brain, particularly of the cortico-limbic and diencephalic systems, and also at the macromolecular effects on them, by integrating the contributions of various disciplines converging on one subject and from different points of view. It addresses the question of how so many different activity levels — the biochemical, physiological, and psychological ones — interact in integrative processes. The topics treated include brain reverberating systems and associative phenomena; long-term potentiation, learning, and memory; gene activity and brain activity; and gene expression and information processing during sleep.

• Introduction: The Cortico-Limbic System of Higher Vertebrates (A Neugebauer)
• Opening Lecture:
  • Hippocampal Cellular Correlates to Spatial Learning (P Andersen)
• Brain Reverberating Systems and Associative Phenomena:
  • Where in the Cortex Does Cognition Take Place? (P Calabrese et al.)
  • Does a Hierarchical Timing Mechanism Exist in the Olfactory System? (T Radil et al.)
• Long Term Potentiation — Learning and Memory:
  • Long-Term Potentiation: A Synaptic Model for Learning and Memory (K P S J Murphy et al.)
  • Nitric Oxide, Synaptic Plasticity and Memory Formation in the Brain (G A Böhme)
• Gene Activity and Brain Activity:
  • The Role of Immediate Early Genes in Long-Term Potentiation, Learning and Memory (K L Thomas & S P Hunt)
  • Towards Understanding a Role of Transcription Factors in Learning Processes (L Kaczmarek)
• Gene Expression and Information Processing During Sleep:
  • The Expression of Immediate Early Genes in the Brain During Sleep and Wake (M Bentivoglio & G Grassi-Zucconi)
  • Paradoxical Sleep as an Iterative Genetic Programming Mechanism (M Jouvet)
• Closing Lecture:
  • Four Levels of Brain Research — An Introduction (H Stieve)
• Abstracts:
  • Genetic Test of the Effects of PKA Knockout on Mossy Fiber LTP and Spatial and Contextual Learning (R Bourtchouladze et al.)
  • The Power and the Limits of Neurogenetics (Y Dudai)
  • and other papers