Schafer, R., Vasilaki, E. orcid.org/0000-0003-3705-7070 and Senn, W. (2007) Perceptual Learning via Modification of Cortical Top-Down Signals. PLoS Computational Biology, 3 (8). e165. ISSN 1553-734X
Abstract
The primary visual cortex (V1) is pre-wired to facilitate the extraction of behaviorally important visual features. Collinear edge detectors in V1, for instance, mutually enhance each other to improve the perception of lines against a noisy background. The same pre-wiring that facilitates line extraction, however, is detrimental when subjects have to discriminate the brightness of different line segments. How is it possible to improve in one task by unsupervised practicing, without getting worse in the other task? The classical view of perceptual learning is that practicing modulates the feedforward input stream through synaptic modifications onto or within V1. However, any rewiring of V1 would deteriorate other perceptual abilities different from the trained one. We propose a general neuronal model showing that perceptual learning can modulate top-down input to V1 in a task-specific way while feedforward and lateral pathways remain intact. Consistent with biological data, the model explains how context-dependent brightness discrimination is improved by a top-down recruitment of recurrent inhibition and a top-down induced increase of the neuronal gain within V1. Both the top-down modulation of inhibition and of neuronal gain are suggested to be universal features of cortical microcircuits which enable perceptual learning.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
---|---|
Authors/Creators: |
|
Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2007 Schäfer et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. |
Keywords: | Primary visual cortex; neurotransmitter release probability; pyramidal neurons; contextual influence; feedback-circuits; alert monkeys; inhabitation; model; attention; gain |
Dates: |
|
Institution: | The University of Sheffield |
Academic Units: | The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Engineering (Sheffield) > Department of Computer Science (Sheffield) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Sheffield |
Date Deposited: | 18 Apr 2016 09:27 |
Last Modified: | 18 Apr 2016 09:27 |
Published Version: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.0030165 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Public Library of Science |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.1371/journal.pcbi.0030165 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:98639 |