Findings weaken notion that size equals strength for neural connections

Learning, memory and behavioral disorders can arise when the connections between neuron, called synapses, do not change properly in response to experience. Scientists have studied this "synaptic plasticity" for decades, but a new study by researchers at MIT's Picower Institute for Learning and Memory highlights several surprises about some of the basic mechanisms by which it happens. Getting to the bottom of what underlies some of those surprises, the research further suggests, could yield new treatments for a disorder called Fragile X that causes autism.