Behavioral Consequences and cellular substrates of plasticity in visual cortex

Detection of novel stimuli that may predict reward or punishment requires long-term
memory for, and recognition of, stimuli that are familiar. Novelty detection and familiarity
recognition are often impaired in neuropsychiatric disease, so understanding the
neurobiological underpinnings is an important goal. We recently discovered that memory
of visual stimulus familiarity is stored via synaptic modifications in primary visual cortex
of mice. The primary aims of our research are now to (a) identify how information is
stored by the collective activity of neurons in primary visual cortex and the reciprocally
connected thalamus, (b) pinpoint the key sites in the cortical microcircuit where the
essential synaptic modifications occur, and (c) determine how these modifications are
expressed at the level of circuits and behavior. Beyond the relevance of our proposed
research to identifying the mechanisms underlying visual recognition memory, they will
broaden our understanding of how primary sensory areas are modified by sensory
experience in order to modify behavior, which remains one of the great challenges in
basic neuroscience.

Grant Number: 5R01EY023037-12
NIH Institute/Center: NIH
Principal Investigator: Mark Bear