Neuronal mechanisms and neuropharmacology of perceptual learning

我的朋友托马斯是一位艺术家，但每当我们看同样的东西时，他就会阐明神经科学中的一个重要问题。他看问题的角度和我不一样。在平淡无奇的墙壁上，他看到灰泥的结构与附近一辆饱经风雨的铬绿汽车形成了鲜明的对比。因此，他那些描绘无聊环境的画作都是伟大的画作。作为一名艺术家，托马斯多年的训练和实践磨练了他非凡的视觉能力。但这些能力必须由他大脑的真正差异来支撑。这些差异在哪里呢？它们是如何产生的？它们是什么呢？在“看到事物”和辨别任务方面变得更好被称为感知学习。介导感知学习的机制和大脑中的位置仍然知之甚少。我们将调查(1)在大脑中感知学习发生的位置，以及是否存在感知学习的层次？(2)注意如何影响知觉学习？(3)哪些脑化学物质介导知觉学习？这些问题的答案将提高我们对学习的总体理解，并可能为脑损伤后更好的脑功能再生和更好的学习障碍治疗铺平道路。

My friend Thomas is an artist but whenever we look at the same things he illuminates an important problem in neuroscience. He sees things differently from me. In bland walls he sees the plaster’s structure nicely contrasting the weathered chromium green of a nearby car. Thus, his pictures of boring environments make great paintings. Thomas’ exceptional visual abilities have been honed by years of training and practice as an artist. But those abilities must be supported by real differences in his brain. Where do these differences reside? How do they come about? And what are they? To become better at ‘seeing things’ and at discrimination tasks is referred to as perceptual learning. The mechanisms that mediate perceptual learning and the locations in the brain are still poorly understood.We will investigate (1) where in the brain perceptual learning occurs, and whether there a hierarchy of perceptual learning? (2) How does attention influence perceptual learning? (3) Which brain chemicals mediate perceptual learning? Answers to these questions will improve our understanding of learning in general and may pave the way to better regeneration of brain function following brain injury and better therapy for learning disorders.