In this work, the resistance plasticity of Cu/SiO2/W programmable metallization cell devices is experimentally explored for the emulation of biological synapses. PMC devices were fabricated with foundry friendly materials using standard processes. The resistance can be continuously increased or decreased with both dc and voltage pulse programming. Impedance spectroscopy results indicate that the gradual change of resistance is attributable to the expansion or contraction of a Cu-rich layer within the device. Pulse programming experiments further show that the pulse amplitude plays a more important role in resistance change than pulse width, which is consistent with the proposed 'dual-layer' device model. The dense resistance-state distribution, 1 V operating voltage and inherent CMOS-compatibility suggests its potential application as electronic synapse in neuromorphic computing.