Time course of learning perceptual pop-out in V1 and V2

描述(申请人提供)：本项目重点研究视觉皮层知觉学习的神经基础。虽然视觉皮质的可塑性已经被很好地记录下来，但可塑性的时间进程和视神经元中发生的各种变化还没有完全被描述。该实验旨在通过监测皮层神经元反应与行为变化时间进程的关系，来探索由于广泛训练而导致的视觉可塑性的发展和本质。心理测量和神经测量对比反应功能的变化以及神经元集合内相关性的变化将作为可塑性的更灵敏的衡量标准来探索。了解训练导致大脑皮层变化的机制对于治疗患有各种脑损伤的人类具有潜在的重要意义。特别是，中风和其他脑局灶性病变的治疗可以从这项提案中的研究中获得洞察力。此外，了解视觉皮质可塑性的极限对于了解弱视等疾病很重要，弱视是由于视觉障碍而导致皮质发生已知变化的疾病。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This project focuses on the neural basis of perceptual learning in visual cortex. Although plasticity has been well documented in visual cortex, the time course of plasticity and the kinds of changes that occur in visual neurons have not been fully characterized. The proposed experiments aim to explore the development and nature of visual plasticity due to extensive training by monitoring the evolution of cortical neuronal responses relative to the time course of behavioral change. The change of psychometric and neurometric contrast response functions and the change in correlation within neuronal ensembles will be explored as more sensitive measures of plasticity. An understanding of the mechanisms of change in the cerebral cortex as a result of training is potentially very important for the medical treatment of humans with various kinds of brain damage. In particular, the treatment of strokes and other focal brain lesions can gain insight from the research in this proposal. In addition, knowledge of the limits of visual cortical plasticity are important in understanding diseases such as amblyopia, in which there are known changes in the cortex as a result of a visual impairment.