Neuronal representations of stimulus associations develop in the temporal lobe during learning
Neuronal representations of stimulus associations develop in the temporal lobe during learning
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DOI：
10.1073/pnas.211431098
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发表时间：
2001-10-09
影响因子：
11.1
通讯作者：
Albright, TD
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Messinger, A;Squire, LR;Albright, TD
经常一起看到的视觉刺激会在长期记忆中产生关联，因此看到一种刺激很容易让人想起另一种刺激的想法或图像。据推测，这种长期联想记忆的获得是通过加强代表相关刺激的神经元之间的连接来进行的，这样一个神经元最初只对相关对中的一个刺激做出反应，最终对这两个刺激都做出反应。与这一假设一致的是，研究表明，灵长类颞下皮层中的单个神经元往往对与行为相关的成对视觉刺激表现出相似的反应。在本研究中，我们通过监测单个神经元在学习新刺激对期间的反应，研究了这些区域在条件视觉关联形成中的作用。我们发现，随着学习的进行，TE 区和鼻周皮层中的许多神经元对配对刺激都会引发更相似的神经元反应。此外，这些神经元反应变化是学习依赖性的，并且以与学习平行的平均时间过程进行。大脑皮层感觉表征的这种依赖于经验的可塑性可能是学习物体之间关联的基础。
Visual stimuli that are frequently seen together become associated in long-term memory, such that the sight of one stimulus readily brings to mind the thought or image of the other. It has been hypothesized that acquisition of such long-term associative memories proceeds via the strengthening of connections between neurons representing the associated stimuli, such that a neuron initially responding only to one stimulus of an associated pair eventually comes to respond to both. Consistent with this hypothesis, studies have demonstrated that individual neurons in the primate inferior temporal cortex tend to exhibit similar responses to pairs of visual stimuli that have become behaviorally associated. In the present study, we investigated the role of these areas in the formation of conditional visual associations by monitoring the responses of individual neurons during the learning of new stimulus pairs. We found that many neurons in both area TE and perirhinal cortex came to elicit more similar neuronal responses to paired stimuli as learning proceeded. Moreover, these neuronal response changes were learning-de pendent and proceeded with an average time course that paralleled learning. This experience-dependent plasticity of sensory representations in the cerebral cortex may underlie the learning of associations between objects.