Of all the known forms of neuroplasticity, one form of synaptic plasticity, called long-term potentiation (LTP), is the most intensively studied and, therefore, the best understood. LTP is a process that increases the efficiency of synaptic transmission, which is now widely believed to be the neural basis of most, if not all, forms of learning and memory. Modification of synapses also plays an important role in addiction, a maladaptive form of neuroplasticity that involves aberrant learning (see chapter 8).
