Learning occurs when synapses change their strength or when new synapses are formed or old synapses are removed. If the connection between two neurons is weak, the input neuron will have to fire many spikes to get the output neuron to spike. If the connection is strong, the input neuron will have to fire only a few spikes to get the output neuron to spike. Synapses can increase their strength by the input neuron releasing more neurotransmitter in response to a spike or the postsynaptic neuron increasing the number of protein receptors (hence more responsive to the same quantity of
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