This Article Full Text (PDF) References Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via ISI Web of Science (3) Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Yao, H. Articles by Dan, Y. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Yao, H. Articles by Dan, Y. Social Bookmarking                   What's this?

Synaptic Learning Rules, Cortical Circuits, and Visual Function

Department of Molecular and Cell Biology and Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute, University of California, Berkeley, hsyao{at}berkeley.edu

Yang Dan

Department of Molecular and Cell Biology and Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute, University of California, Berkeley

Sensory experience is essential for the refinement of neuronal circuits during development and for learning and memory in the adult brain. Such experience-dependent plasticity is largely mediated by activity-dependent synaptic modification. In this review, we focus on a spike timing-dependent synaptic learning rule, in which the direction and magnitude of synaptic modification depend on the relative spike timing of presynaptic and postsynaptic neurons. We discuss a series of recent studies exploring the functional implications of this learning rule in the visual system. These studies show that temporally patterned visual stimuli can cause rapid changes in visual circuits, neuronal receptive fields, and visual perception, with a temporal specificity of tens of milliseconds. Particularly, motion stimuli that are common in natural scenes may interact strongly with the spike timing-dependent learning rule, leaving distinct marks in the perceptual function of the mature brain.

Key Words: Synaptic plasticity • Spike timing-dependent plasticity • Cortical circuits • Receptive field • Visual perception

CiteULike    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    What's this?

This article has been cited by other articles:

				H. Bengoetxea, E. G. Argandona, and J. V. Lafuente Effects of Visual Experience on Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor Expression during the Postnatal Development of the Rat Visual Cortex Cereb Cortex, July 1, 2008; 18(7): 1630 - 1639. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				S. Deneve Bayesian Spiking Neurons II: Learning Neural Comput., January 1, 2007; 20(1): 118 - 145. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				M. G. Knyazeva, E. Fornari, R. Meuli, and P. Maeder Interhemispheric Integration at Different Spatial Scales: The Evidence From EEG Coherence and fMRI J Neurophysiol, July 1, 2006; 96(1): 259 - 275. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				K. J. Bender, C. B. Allen, V. A. Bender, and D. E. Feldman Synaptic basis for whisker deprivation-induced synaptic depression in rat somatosensory cortex. J. Neurosci., April 19, 2006; 26(16): 4155 - 4165. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]