A BRAIN MODEL WITH THE CIRCUIT TO CONVERT SHORT-TERM-MEMORY INTO LONG-TERM-MEMORY

Assuming the existence of encoding synapses which record presynaptic a xonal 'on-off' patterns as the contents of memory, and the existence o f modulating synapses which help encoding synapses develop long-term p otentiation and depression so as to convert short-term memory into lon g-term memory, it is possible to outline a brain model according to ne uroanatomy. The loop of memory-conversion consists of the axons connec ting the perceptive cortices, mesotemporal lobes, dorsomedial nuclei o f thalamus (which also receive axons from septohippocampal complex and , indirectly, fornices), and prefrontal lobes. The contents of thought , feeling, dreaming, hallucination, and delusion all result from activ ation of different axonal 'on-off' patterns in many sets of synapses, and retrieval of memory, reactivation of the presynaptic axonal 'on-of f' patterns in the correlating sets of synapses. In this model, degene rated synapses may be responsible for the thought disorder of schizoph renia.