Behavioral Consequences and cellular substrates of plasticity in visual cortex

学习和记忆的神经生物学的中心问题是在哪里以及如何 经验可以改变大脑，从而改变行为。最近，我们描述了一种 头部固定清醒小鼠的生理现象称为刺激选择 反应增强(SRP)，其中初级视觉皮质的反应性是 由于反复暴露于特定的视觉刺激而显著增强。这 在成人初级视皮层诱导和表达强健形式的可塑性 展示了知觉学习的许多特征。 这项研究的主要目的是：a)确定 SRP使用两种新的行为分析；b)确定SRP在 视觉皮质内的细胞水平和；c)精确定位被修饰的突触。 除了我们提议的研究与确定机制的相关性之外 潜在的知觉学习和/或视觉识别记忆，它们将拓宽我们的 对初级感觉区域如何被感觉经验改变的理解 以修改行为，这仍然是Basic 神经科学。

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.