Great answer. At the same time, I think we are better at memorizing something when the stakes are high. After writing something down and storing it in a safe place, there is not much lost by forgetting the information anymore.

Thanks for the answer. I was curious about direct connections, i.e. can there be two synapses each connecting neuron A to neuron B.

Thanks a lot! Do you happen to know if there are any studies on whether domapine increases plasticity at the synapse level? I.e. is a synapse more likely to grow/strengthen under higher dopamine concentration?

I understand that, but top-down signals also seem to be used to modulate the upward perception pathway. So then there are two different top-down signals: Modulation and imagination. Do you know anything about the distinction between the two?

Thank you! One question to your answer to my second question. I'd consider top-down modulation as part of perception. In that case, it's not obvious anymore how the distinction between top-down modulation of perception and top-down imagination is implemented. Those seem to be two rather different processes that at least in part use the same pathways. Am I missing something?

Thanks. Are you aware of any such work related on the thalamus?

After looking into the paper again, it seems like the paper only demonstrates dendrite-type-specific targeting. On other words, based on an activation pattern, most neurons that share a specific dendrite branch type get activated. But there is no targeting of individual neurons. Am I misinterpreting the paper? I'd be happy if you could comment on this.

"To my knowledge, all ANNs have inputs." - There are ANNs where inputs are deactivated after a time and new patterns arise from random perturbations. Unfortunately, the interesting work by Stephen Thaler is not very well documented and covered by a questionable patent.