What counts as " memory " and who gets to define it?

Do Plants Have “Memory”?A new paper byB édécarrats et al. (2018) is the latest entry into the iconoclastic hullabaloo claiming a non-synaptic basis for learning and memory. In short, “RNA extracted from the central nervous system ofAplysia given long-term sensitization training induced sensitization when injected into untrained animals... ” The results support the minority view that long-term memory is not encoded by synaptic strength, according to the authors, but instead by molecules inside cells (à laRandy Gallistel).Adam Calhoun has a nice summary of the paper atNeuroecology:...there is a particularreflex1(memory) that changes when they [Aplysia] have experienced a lot of shocks. How memory is encoded is a bit debated but one strongly-supported mechanism (especially in these snails) is that there are changes in the amount of particular proteins that are expressed in some neurons. These proteins might make more of one channel or receptor that makes it more or less likely to respond to signals from other neurons. So for instance, when a snail receives its first shock a neuron responds and it withdraws its gills. Over time, each shock builds up more proteins that make the neuron respond more and more. These proteins are built up by the amount of RNA (the “blueprint” for the proteins, if you will) that are located in the vicinity of the neuron that can receive this information.  ...This new paper shows that in these snails, you can just dump the RNA on the...
Source: The Neurocritic - Category: Neuroscience Authors: Source Type: blogs