School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences, GR41, The University of Texas at Dallas, Richardson, TX 75080-3021, USA.
Neuron. 2011 Apr 14;70(1):121-31. doi: 10.1016/j.neuron.2011.02.038.
Cortical map plasticity is believed to be a key substrate of perceptual and skill learning. In the current study, we quantified changes in perceptual ability after pairing tones with stimulation of the cholinergic nucleus basalis to induce auditory cortex map plasticity outside of a behavioral context. Our results provide evidence that cortical map plasticity can enhance perceptual learning. However, auditory cortex map plasticity fades over weeks even though tone discrimination performance remains stable. This observation is consistent with recent reports that cortical map expansions associated with perceptual and motor learning are followed by a period of map renormalization without a decrement in performance. Our results indicate that cortical map plasticity enhances perceptual learning, but is not necessary to maintain improved discriminative ability.
皮质图可塑性被认为是知觉和技能学习的关键基质。在当前的研究中，我们在非行为背景下量化了与基底神经节胆碱能核刺激配对后的音调感知能力的变化，以诱导听觉皮层图的可塑性。我们的结果提供了证据表明皮质图可塑性可以增强知觉学习。然而，即使在音调辨别性能保持稳定的情况下，皮质图的可塑性也会在数周内消失。这一观察结果与最近的报告一致，即与知觉和运动学习相关的皮质图扩展之后是一个没有性能下降的皮质图再规范化的时期。我们的结果表明，皮质图可塑性增强了知觉学习，但对于维持改善的辨别能力并不是必需的。
