Behavioral consequences and cellular substrates of plasticity in visual cortex

描述(由申请人提供)：学习和记忆神经生物学的中心问题是经验在哪里以及如何改变大脑来改变行为。最近，我们在头部固定的清醒小鼠中描述了一种生理现象，称为刺激选择性反应增强(SRP)，在这种现象中，初级视觉皮质的反应性由于重复暴露于特定的视觉刺激而显著增强。这种强健的可塑性形式在成人初级视觉皮质中被诱导和表达，并显示出许多知觉学习的特征。这项研究的主要目的是：a)使用两种新的行为分析方法来确定SRP的行为学意义；b)确定SRP在视觉皮质细胞水平上的表达；以及c)精确定位被修饰的突触。除了我们提出的研究与识别知觉学习和/或视觉识别记忆的机制有关外，它们还将拓宽我们对主要感觉区域如何被感觉经验改变以改变行为的理解，这仍然是基础神经科学中的巨大挑战之一。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Central questions in the neurobiology of learning and memory are where and how experience modifies the brain to alter behavior. Recently we have described a physiological phenomenon in head-fixed awake mice termed stimulus-selective response potentiation (SRP), in which responsiveness of primary visual cortex is markedly enhanced as a result of repeated exposure to specific visual stimuli. This robust form of plasticity is induced and expressed in the adult primary visual cortex and displays many of the features that are characteristic of perceptual learning. The primary aims of this research are to; a) to determine the behavioral significance of SRP using two novel behavioral assays; b) determine how SRP is expressed at the cellular level within visual cortex and; c) pinpoint the synapses that are modified. Beyond the relevance of our proposed research to identifying the mechanisms underlying perceptual learning and/or visual recognition memory, they will broaden our understanding of how primary sensory areas are modified by sensory experience in order to modify behavior, which remains one of the great challenges in basic neuroscience.