Abstract 1168, Date 3:50 pm Tuesday, February 25, 2003 Session O: Auditory Learning: Principles, Applications, and Mechanisms
Perceptual Learning and Cortical Self-Organization
Michael P. Kilgard
Sensory cortex is continually reorganized to meet changing behavioral needs. However, the general principles that allow behaviorally useful reorganization in large populations of neurons remain unclear.   In this talk, I will describe a series of experimental manipulations that offer new insight into the neural basis of perceptual learning. These experiments provide strong evidence that modulatory neurotransmitters inform cortical neurons which particular sensory events to learn.   Once relevant stimuli have been identified, network-level plasticity rules control how these inputs alter cortical connectivity and dynamics.   For example, the same modulatory stimulation, when associated with different forms of auditory input, can generate dramatic changes in A1 frequency map organization, temporal processing, or sequence selectivity.   Understanding how sensory experience guides neural plasticity will be critical for the development of new therapies for neurological rehabilitation.       Research supported by the National Institute for Deafness and Other Communicative Disorders and the Cure Autism Now Foundation.