title: Stimulus timing-dependent plasticity in cortical processing of orientation.
abstract: The relative timing of presynaptic and postsynaptic spikes plays a critical role in activity-induced synaptic modification. Here we examined whether plasticity of orientation selectivity in the visual cortex depends on stimulus timing. Repetitive pairing of visual stimuli at two orientations induced a shift in orientation tuning of cat cortical neurons, with the direction of the shift depending on the temporal order of the pair. Induction of a significant shift required that the interval between the pair fall within +/-40 ms, reminiscent of the temporal window for spike timing-dependent synaptic plasticity. Mirroring the plasticity found in cat visual cortex, similar conditioning also induced a shift in perceived orientation by human subjects, further suggesting functional relevance of this phenomenon. Thus, relative timing of visual stimuli can play a critical role in dynamic modulation of adult cortical function, perhaps through spike timing-dependent synaptic plasticity.
authors.affiliation: Division of Neurobiology, Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of California, Berkeley 94720, USA.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Yao
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Dan
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002415:Cats; D003213:Conditioning, Psychological; D004594:Electrophysiology; D006801:Humans; D007700:Kinetics; D009473:Neuronal Plasticity / Q000502:physiology*; D009474:Neurons / Q000502:physiology; D009949:Orientation / Q000502:physiology*; D010465:Perception; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D013569:Synapses / Q000502:physiology; D014793:Visual Cortex / Q000502:physiology*