Journal ArticleDOI
CORTICAL PLASTICITY: From Synapses to Maps
TLDR
The goal of the current paper is to review the fields of both synaptic and cortical map plasticity with an emphasis on the work that attempts to unite both fields, to highlight the gaps in the understanding of synaptic and cellular mechanisms underlying cortical representational plasticity.Abstract:
It has been clear for almost two decades that cortical representations in adult animals are not fixed entities, but rather, are dynamic and are continuously modified by experience. The cortex can preferentially allocate area to represent the particular peripheral input sources that are proportionally most used. Alterations in cortical representations appear to underlie learning tasks dependent on the use of the behaviorally important peripheral inputs that they represent. The rules governing this cortical representational plasticity following manipulations of inputs, including learning, are increasingly well understood. In parallel with developments in the field of cortical map plasticity, studies of synaptic plasticity have characterized specific elementary forms of plasticity, including associative long-term potentiation and long-term depression of excitatory postsynaptic potentials. Investigators have made many important strides toward understanding the molecular underpinnings of these fundamental plasticity processes and toward defining the learning rules that govern their induction. The fields of cortical synaptic plasticity and cortical map plasticity have been implicitly linked by the hypothesis that synaptic plasticity underlies cortical map reorganization. Recent experimental and theoretical work has provided increasingly stronger support for this hypothesis. The goal of the current paper is to review the fields of both synaptic and cortical map plasticity with an emphasis on the work that attempts to unite both fields. A second objective is to highlight the gaps in our understanding of synaptic and cellular mechanisms underlying cortical representational plasticity.read more
Citations
More filters
Journal ArticleDOI
A theory of cortical responses
TL;DR: The aims of this article are to encompass many apparently unrelated anatomical, physiological and psychophysical attributes of the brain within a single theoretical perspective and to provide a principled way to understand many aspects of cortical organization and responses.
Journal ArticleDOI
Spinal and Supraspinal Factors in Human Muscle Fatigue
TL;DR: Evidence for "central" fatigue and the neural mechanisms underlying it are reviewed, together with its terminology and the methods used to reveal it.
Journal ArticleDOI
Synaptic plasticity and memory: an evaluation of the hypothesis
TL;DR: It is concluded that a wealth of data support the notion that synaptic plasticity is necessary for learning and memory, but that little data currently supports the notion of sufficiency.
Journal ArticleDOI
The Human Hippocampus and Spatial and Episodic Memory
TL;DR: A review of neuropsychological, behavioral, and neuroimaging studies of human hippocampal involvement in spatial memory concentrates on three important concepts in this field: spatial frameworks, dimensionality, and orientation and self-motion.
Book
Knowing What Students Know: The Science and Design of Educational Assessment
TL;DR: In this article, the authors propose a new kind of assessment called Knowing What Students Know (KSS), which aims to make as clear as possible the nature of students' accomplishments and the progress of their learning.
References
More filters
Journal ArticleDOI
A synaptic model of memory: long-term potentiation in the hippocampus
TL;DR: The best understood form of long-term potentiation is induced by the activation of the N-methyl-d-aspartate receptor complex, which allows electrical events at the postsynaptic membrane to be transduced into chemical signals which, in turn, are thought to activate both pre- and post Synaptic mechanisms to generate a persistent increase in synaptic strength.
Journal ArticleDOI
Receptive fields and functional architecture of monkey striate cortex
David H. Hubel,Torsten N. Wiesel +1 more
TL;DR: The striate cortex was studied in lightly anaesthetized macaque and spider monkeys by recording extracellularly from single units and stimulating the retinas with spots or patterns of light, with response properties very similar to those previously described in the cat.
Book
The Organization of Behavior: A Neuropsychological Theory
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors discuss the first stage of perception: growth of the assembly, the phase sequence, and the problem of Motivational Drift, which is the line of attack.
Journal ArticleDOI
Regulation of Synaptic Efficacy by Coincidence of Postsynaptic APs and EPSPs
TL;DR: In dual whole-cell voltage recordings from pyramidal neurons, the coincidence of post Synaptic action potentials and unitary excitatory postsynaptic potentials was found to induce changes in EPSPs.