Neuronal mechanisms and neuropharmacology of perceptual learning

我的朋友托马斯是一位艺术家，但每当我们看到同样的东西时，他就阐明了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，他看到的是灰泥的结构，与附近一辆汽车风化后的铬色绿色形成了鲜明的对比。因此，他的无聊环境的照片使伟大的绘画。作为一名艺术家，托马斯的非凡视觉能力是经过多年的训练和实践磨练出来的。但这些能力必须由他大脑中真实的差异来支持。这些差异存在于何处？它们是如何产生的？它们是什么？变得更善于“看东西”和辨别任务被称为知觉学习。知觉学习的中介机制和在大脑中的位置仍然知之甚少。我们将研究（1）知觉学习发生在大脑中的哪里，以及知觉学习是否存在层次结构？(2)注意力如何影响知觉学习？(3)哪些大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地再生脑功能和更好地治疗学习障碍铺平道路。

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.