The discovery of long‐term potentiation (LTP) provided the first, direct evidence for long‐lasting synaptic plasticity in the living brain. Consequently, LTP was proposed to serve as a mechanism for information storage among neurons, thus providing the basis for the behavioral and psychological phenomena of learning and long‐term memory formation. However, for several decades, the LTP‐memory hypothesis remained highly controversial, with inconsistent and contradictory evidence providing a barrier to its general acceptance. This review summarizes the history of these early debates, challenges, and experimental strategies (successful and unsuccessful) to establish a link between LTP and memory. Together, the empirical evidence, gathered over a period of about four decades, strongly suggests that LTP serves as one of the mechanisms affording learning and memory storage in neuronal circuits. Notably, this body of work also offers some important lessons that apply to the broader fields of behavioral and cognitive neuroscience. As such, the history of LTP as a learning mechanism provides valuable insights to neuroscientists exploring the relations between brain and psychological states.

中文翻译：

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长时程增强作为记忆机制的历史：争议、确认和一些需要记住的教训。

长时程增强（LTP）的发现为活体大脑中持久的突触可塑性提供了第一个直接的证据。因此，LTP 被提议作为神经元之间信息存储的机制，从而为学习和长期记忆形成的行为和心理现象提供基础。然而，几十年来，LTP 记忆假说一直备受争议，不一致和矛盾的证据为其普遍接受提供了障碍。这篇综述总结了这些早期争论、挑战和实验策略（成功和失败）的历史，以在 LTP 和记忆之间建立联系。总之，在大约四年的时间里收集的经验证据，强烈表明 LTP 是在神经元回路中提供学习和记忆存储的机制之一。值得注意的是，这项工作还提供了一些重要的经验教训，适用于更广泛的行为和认知神经科学领域。因此，LTP 作为一种学习机制的历史为神经科学家探索大脑和心理状态之间的关系提供了宝贵的见解。