Ventral midbrain stimulation induces perceptual learning and cortical plasticity in primates
Ventral midbrain stimulation induces perceptual learning and cortical plasticity in primates
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DOI：
10.1038/s41467-019-11527-9
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发表时间：
2019-08-09
影响因子：
16.6
通讯作者：
Vanduffel, Wim
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Arsenault, John T.;Vanduffel, Wim
练习改善了知觉，增强了对受过训练的视觉刺激的神经表征，这一现象被称为视觉知觉学习(VPL)。虽然对任务相关刺激的注意在这类学习中起着重要作用，但巴甫洛夫刺激-强化关联足以推动VPL，甚至是潜意识中的。有人提出强化通过激活神经调节中心来促进知觉学习，但这一点在灵长类动物中尚未得到直接证实。在这里，我们将与任务无关的视觉刺激与对猕猴腹侧被盖区(VTA)的多巴胺能中心的微刺激配对。VTA微刺激与任务无关的视觉刺激配对增加了fMRI活性，并改善了对微刺激配对刺激的fMRI活动模式的分类。此外，VTA微刺激与任务无关的视觉刺激相结合，提高了受试者辨别刺激的能力。这是第一次证明神经调节中心在灵长类动物VPL中的作用。
Practice improves perception and enhances neural representations of trained visual stimuli, a phenomenon known as visual perceptual learning (VPL). While attention to task-relevant stimuli plays an important role in such learning, Pavlovian stimulus-reinforcer associations are sufficient to drive VPL, even subconsciously. It has been proposed that reinforcement facilitates perceptual learning through the activation of neuromodulatory centers, but this has not been directly confirmed in primates. Here, we paired task-irrelevant visual stimuli with microstimulation of a dopaminergic center, the ventral tegmental area (VTA), in macaques. Pairing VTA microstimulation with a task-irrelevant visual stimulus increased fMRI activity and improved classification of fMRI activity patterns selectively for the microstimulation-paired stimulus. Moreover, pairing VTA microstimulation with a task-irrelevant visual stimulus improved the subject's capacity to discriminate that stimulus. This is the first causal demonstration of the role of neuromodulatory centers in VPL in primates.