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GOALS: Motivated partly by our previous work, we have attempted: (1) To determine whether there is a global mechanism that automatically adjusts the strengths of the many connections that take place between neurons. (2) To determine the source of variations in neuronal firing observed during behaviorally meaningful neural activity, whether the variations arise from determmistic processes or nondeterministic ones, and to identify the synaptic or membrane mechanisms that may give rise to them. Because biological systems are difficult to control, we have used computer simulations to examine these problems. The results indicate that the findings may be addressable in biological systems, particularly in cell cultures of two or three selectively connected neurons.