QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

HOME  |   SEARCH  |   ARCHIVE  |   SUBSCRIBE  |   CONTACT  |   HELP

The Journal of Neuroscience, June 14, 2006, 26(24):6589-6602; doi:10.1523/JNEUROSCI.0457-06.2006

This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Supplemental data Submit an eLetter Alert me when this article is cited Alert me when eLetters are posted Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Related articles in J. Neurosci. Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in Web of Science Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Web of Science (8) Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Raiguel, S. Articles by Orban, G. A. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Raiguel, S. Articles by Orban, G. A.

 Previous Article  |  Next Article 

Behavioral/Systems/Cognitive
Learning to See the Difference Specifically Alters the Most Informative V4 Neurons

Steven Raiguel, Rufin Vogels, Santosh G. Mysore, and Guy A. Orban

Laboratorium voor Neuro-en-Psychofysiologie, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven Medical School, BE-3000 Leuven, Belgium

Correspondence should be addressed to Prof. Guy A. Orban, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Faculteit der Geneeskunde, Laboratorium voor Neuro-en-Psychofysiologie, Campus Gasthuisberg, O&N 2, Herestraat 49, Bus 1021, BE-3000 Leuven, Belgium. Email: Guy.Orban{at}med.kuleuven.be

Perceptual learning is an instance of adult plasticity whereby training in a sensory (e.g., a visual task) results in neuronal changes leading to an improved ability to perform the task. Yet studies in primary visual cortex have found that changes in neuronal response properties were relatively modest. The present study examines the effects of training in an orientation discrimination task on the response properties of V4 neurons in awake rhesus monkeys. Results indicate that the changes induced in V4 are indeed larger than those in V1. Nonspecific effects of training included a decrease in response variance, and an increase in overall orientation selectivity in V4. The orientation-specific changes involved a local steepening in the orientation tuning curve around the trained orientation that selectively improved orientation discriminability at the trained orientation. Moreover, these changes were largely confined to the population of neurons whose orientation tuning was optimal for signaling small differences in orientation at the trained orientation. Finally, the modifications were restricted to the part of the tuning curve close to the trained orientation. Thus, we conclude that it is the most informative V4 neurons, those most directly involved in the discrimination, that are specifically modified by perceptual learning.

Key words: perceptual learning; orientation; extrastriate; monkey; visual discrimination; single cell

---

Received Feb. 1, 2006; revised May 15, 2006; accepted May 15, 2006.

Correspondence should be addressed to Prof. Guy A. Orban, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Faculteit der Geneeskunde, Laboratorium voor Neuro-en-Psychofysiologie, Campus Gasthuisberg, O&N 2, Herestraat 49, Bus 1021, BE-3000 Leuven, Belgium. Email: Guy.Orban{at}med.kuleuven.be

Related articles in J. Neurosci.:

Search for the Neural Correlates of Learning to Discriminate Orientations

Jay Hegdé
J. Neurosci. 2006 26: 8877-8878. [Full Text]  

This article has been cited by other articles:

				M. Scolari and J. T. Serences Adaptive Allocation of Attentional Gain J. Neurosci., September 23, 2009; 29(38): 11933 - 11942. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				D. S. Schwarzkopf, J. Zhang, and Z. Kourtzi Flexible Learning of Natural Statistics in the Human Brain J Neurophysiol, September 1, 2009; 102(3): 1854 - 1867. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				M. Tsanov and D. Manahan-Vaughan Synaptic Plasticity from Visual Cortex to Hippocampus: Systems Integration in Spatial Information Processing Neuroscientist, December 1, 2008; 14(6): 584 - 597. [Abstract] [PDF]

				I. Mukai, D. Kim, M. Fukunaga, S. Japee, S. Marrett, and L. G. Ungerleider Activations in Visual and Attention-Related Areas Predict and Correlate with the Degree of Perceptual Learning J. Neurosci., October 17, 2007; 27(42): 11401 - 11411. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				I. M. Andolina, H. E. Jones, W. Wang, and A. M. Sillito Corticothalamic feedback enhances stimulus response precision in the visual system PNAS, January 30, 2007; 104(5): 1685 - 1690. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				J. Hegde Search for the Neural Correlates of Learning to Discriminate Orientations J. Neurosci., August 30, 2006; 26(35): 8877 - 8878. [Full Text] [PDF]

Home  |   Search  |   Archive  |   Subscribe  |   Contact  |   Help