The mollusk, Aplysia californica, - a large sea slug that lives in the sea off California, northern Mexico and off the beaches of Florida - has become a valuable laboratory animal, used in studies of the neurobiology of learning and memory.

its simple nervous system, consisting of just a few thousand large, easily-identified neurons. Despite its seemingly simple nervous system, however, Aplysia californica, is capable of a variety of non-associative and associative learning tasks, which has made it popular among researchers studying the brain.

improving memory
Dr. John H. Byrne, and other neuroscientists University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth used this species to test an innovative learning strategy designed to help improve the brain's memory and the results were encouraging.

Building on earlier research that identified proteins linked to memory, the strategy was used to identify times when the brain was primed for learning, which in turn facilitated the scheduling of learning sessions during these peak periods. The result was a significant increase in memory.

It could ultimately benefit people who have impairments resulting from aging, stroke, traumatic brain injury or congenital cognitive impairments.

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