"The enduring facilitation of synaptic transmission that occurs following the activation of a synapse by high-frequency stimulation of the presynaptic neuron." (Pinel, 1993, p.515)
Originally, this phenomenon was discovered in the Aplysia. However, more recently LTP has been found to occur in mammalian nervous system as well. This was an extremely important finding because it suggested that LTP could be the cellular basis of neural implementation for learning and memory.
Long-term potentiation has been found to occur in the mammalian hippocampus. This is an important finding because the hippocampus is believed to be one of the major brain regions responsible for processing memories.
LTP is one of the first examples of mechanisms of neural implementation of a cognitive function. This is one of the major goals of cognitive science, and hence is a very important discovery.
Pinel, J. (1993). Biopsychology,(2nd Edition) Allyn & Bacon: Toronto.
Contributed by M. Kincade,