title: Cortical reorganization consistent with spike timing-but not correlation-dependent plasticity.
abstract: The receptive fields of neurons in primary visual cortex that are inactivated by retinal damage are known to 'shift' to nondamaged retinal locations, seemingly due to the plasticity of intracortical connections. We have observed in cats that these shifts occur in a pattern that is highly convergent, even among receptive fields that are separated by large distances before inactivation. Here we show, using a computational model of primary visual cortex, that the observed convergent shifts are inconsistent with the common assumption that the underlying intracortical connection plasticity is dependent on the temporal correlation of pre- and postsynaptic action potentials. The shifts are, however, consistent with the hypothesis that this plasticity is dependent on the temporal order of pre- and postsynaptic action potentials. This convergent reorganization seems to require increased neuronal gain, revealing a mechanism that networks may use to selectively facilitate the didactic transfer of neuronal response properties.
authors.affiliation: Neural Information Processing Group, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Berlin University of Technology, FR 2-1, Franklinstrasse 28/29, D-10587 Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: Joshua M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Young
authors.forename: Wioletta J
authors.initials: WJ
authors.lastname: Waleszczyk
authors.forename: Chun
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Michael B
authors.initials: MB
authors.lastname: Calford
authors.forename: Bogdan
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Dreher
authors.forename: Klaus
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Obermayer
mesh_terms: D000200:Action Potentials / Q000502:physiology; D000465:Algorithms; D000818:Animals; D002415:Cats; D004594:Electrophysiology; D019706:Excitatory Postsynaptic Potentials / Q000502:physiology; D007839:Functional Laterality / Q000502:physiology; D006706:Homeostasis / Q000502:physiology; D008959:Models, Neurological; D016571:Neural Networks, Computer; D009434:Neural Pathways / Q000502:physiology; D009473:Neuronal Plasticity / Q000502:physiology*; D015349:Vision, Monocular / Q000502:physiology; D014793:Visual Cortex / Q000502:physiology*; D014794:Visual Fields / Q000502:physiology