COGNITIVE NEUROSCIENCE OF MEMORY AND LEARNING

Abstract

This comprehensive review synthesizes advances in the cognitive neuroscience of memory and learning, tracing evolution from Ebbinghaus's forgetting curves to engram cells and representational drift. Key developments include synaptic plasticity via LTP/LTD, modulated by neuromodulators and epigenetics; dynamic engrams in hippocampal-prefrontal-neocortical networks; and oscillatory mechanisms like theta-gamma coupling for temporal binding. Taxonomy covers working, declarative (episodic/semantic), and non-declarative systems, emphasizing interactions over isolation. Consolidation unfolds via sleep-dependent replay and reconsolidation enables updating, reconciling plasticity with stability. Memory emerges as a multilevel, adaptive process spanning synapses to systems.