Stimulus Timing-Dependent Plasticity in Cortical Processing of Orientation

• Published in: Neuron (Cambridge, Mass.) Vol. 32; no. 2; pp. 315 - 323
• Main Authors: Yao, Haishan, Dan, Yang
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Elsevier Inc 25.10.2001
• Subjects: Animals; Cats; Conditioning (Psychology); Electrophysiology; Humans; Kinetics; Neuronal Plasticity - physiology; Neurons - physiology; Orientation - physiology; Perception; Photic Stimulation; Synapses - physiology; Visual Cortex - physiology
• ISSN: 0896-6273
• DOI: 10.1016/S0896-6273(01)00460-3

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.