TY  - GEN
ID  - cogprints4012
UR  - http://cogprints.org/4012/
A1  - Wiskott, Laurenz
A1  - Rasch, Malte J.
A1  - Kempermann, Gerd
TI  - What is the functional role of adult neurogenesis in the hippocampus?
Y1  - 2004///
N2  -  The dentate gyrus is part of the hippocampal memory system and special in
 that it generates new neurons throughout life.  Here we discuss the
 question of what the functional role of these new neurons might be.  Our
 hypothesis is that they help the dentate gyrus to avoid the problem of
 catastrophic interference when adapting to new environments.  We assume
 that old neurons are rather stable and preserve an optimal encoding
 learned for known environments while new neurons are plastic to adapt to
 those features that are qualitatively new in a new environment.  A simple
 network simulation demonstrates that adding new plastic neurons is indeed
 a successful strategy for adaptation without catastrophic interference.

AV  - public
KW  - hippocampus
KW  -  dentate gyrus
KW  -  adult neurogenesis
KW  -  network model
KW  -  catastrophic interference
ER  -

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