Hi dude,

I'm at rather a disadvantage here because (a) I know very little about the species referred to and (b) I can't find a copy of the whole paper yet. I agree that this excerpt has wooly language and I can't quite make out what is implied (it's even possible to take the meaning as serotonin itself is the stimulus...) I really need to see the methods section of the paper to be sure what they are doing here, hopefully it will turn up online at some stage.

One thing I do know about Aplysia is it's a lot more simple than humans in the neurotransmission department, so much more simple that it's a great lab subject because it has no idea it's in captivity and doesn't much care where it is as long as there's food there and nothing is trying to eat it.

In humans, it's known that both serotonin and acetylcholine initiate kinase cascades during the 'relax' parts of learning including during memory consolidation in sleep. Norepinephrine & dopamine prompt the 'stretch' parts. I've included some more information about this in tutorial 8, which I'm still completing. But you can have a preview:

The way norepinephrine & acetylcholine work together to construct optimal communication/memory paths has a perfect analog in the behavior of slime molds in these artificial networks:

Toshiyuki Nakagaki; "Japan scientists hope slime holds intelligence key." December 28th, 2011. http://www.physorg.com/news/2011-12-jap … e-key.html

slime mold fun:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=F3z_mdaQ5ac&feature=related
www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZUQQmcR5-g

enjoy,
AR