Harnessing Plasticity to Understand Learning and Treat Disease

Overview

Journal Trends Neurosci

Specialty Neurology

Date 2012 Oct 2

PMID 23021980

Citations 52

Authors

Michael P Kilgard

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

A large body of evidence suggests that neural plasticity contributes to learning and disease. Recent studies suggest that cortical map plasticity is typically a transient phase that improves learning by increasing the pool of task-relevant responses. Here, I discuss a new perspective on neural plasticity and suggest how plasticity might be targeted to reset dysfunctional circuits. Specifically, a new model is proposed in which map expansion provides a form of replication with variation that supports a Darwinian mechanism to select the most behaviorally useful circuits. Precisely targeted neural plasticity provides a new avenue for the treatment of neurological and psychiatric disorders and is a powerful tool to test the neural mechanisms of learning and memory.

Citing Articles

Attention to audiovisual speech shapes neural processing through feedback-feedforward loops between different nodes of the speech network.

Wikman P, Salmela V, Sjoblom E, Leminen M, Laine M, Alho K PLoS Biol. 2024; 22(3):e3002534.

PMID: 38466713 PMC: 10957087. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pbio.3002534.

Self-Regulatory Neuronal Mechanisms and Long-Term Challenges in Schizophrenia Treatment.

Markiewicz-Gospodarek A, Markiewicz R, Borowski B, Dobrowolska B, Loza B Brain Sci. 2023; 13(4).

PMID: 37190616 PMC: 10136915. DOI: 10.3390/brainsci13040651.

Nonlinear brain correlates of trait self-boundarylessness.

Lindstrom L, Goldin P, Martensson J, Cardena E Neurosci Conscious. 2023; 2023(1):niad006.

PMID: 37114163 PMC: 10129386. DOI: 10.1093/nc/niad006.

Functional network properties of the auditory cortex.

Lestang J, Cai H, Averbeck B, Cohen Y Hear Res. 2023; 433:108768.

PMID: 37075536 PMC: 10205700. DOI: 10.1016/j.heares.2023.108768.

A stable sensory map emerges from a dynamic equilibrium of neurons with unstable tuning properties.

Chambers A, Aschauer D, Eppler J, Kaschube M, Rumpel S Cereb Cortex. 2022; 33(9):5597-5612.

PMID: 36418925 PMC: 10152095. DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhac445.

References

Saez I, Friedlander M . Plasticity between neuronal pairs in layer 4 of visual cortex varies with synapse state. J Neurosci. 2009; 29(48):15286-98. PMC: 2824571. DOI: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.2980-09.2009. View

Fernando C, Goldstein R, Szathmary E . The neuronal replicator hypothesis. Neural Comput. 2010; 22(11):2809-57. DOI: 10.1162/NECO_a_00031. View

Buonomano D, Maass W . State-dependent computations: spatiotemporal processing in cortical networks. Nat Rev Neurosci. 2009; 10(2):113-25. DOI: 10.1038/nrn2558. View

Bieszczad K, Weinberger N . Representational gain in cortical area underlies increase of memory strength. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2010; 107(8):3793-8. PMC: 2840533. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1000159107. View

Wolfe J, Houweling A, Brecht M . Sparse and powerful cortical spikes. Curr Opin Neurobiol. 2010; 20(3):306-12. DOI: 10.1016/j.conb.2010.03.006. View

Flor H, Elbert T, Knecht S, Wienbruch C, Pantev C, Birbaumer N . Phantom-limb pain as a perceptual correlate of cortical reorganization following arm amputation. Nature. 1995; 375(6531):482-4. DOI: 10.1038/375482a0. View

. On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life. Br Foreign Med Chir Rev. 2018; 25(50):367-404. PMC: 5184128. View

Ridder D, Van de Heyning P . The Darwinian plasticity hypothesis for tinnitus and pain. Prog Brain Res. 2007; 166:55-60. DOI: 10.1016/S0079-6123(07)66005-1. View

Hromadka T, DeWeese M, Zador A . Sparse representation of sounds in the unanesthetized auditory cortex. PLoS Biol. 2008; 6(1):e16. PMC: 2214813. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pbio.0060016. View

10.

Been M, Jans B, de Weerd P . Time-limited consolidation and task interference: no direct link. J Neurosci. 2011; 31(42):14944-51. PMC: 6623573. DOI: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.1046-11.2011. View

11.

Kilgard M, Pandya P, Vazquez J, Rathbun D, Engineer N, Moucha R . Spectral features control temporal plasticity in auditory cortex. Audiol Neurootol. 2001; 6(4):196-202. DOI: 10.1159/000046832. View

12.

Skinner R, Rasco L, Fitzgerald J, Karson C, Matthew M, Williams D . Reduced sensory gating of the P1 potential in rape victims and combat veterans with posttraumatic stress disorder. Depress Anxiety. 1999; 9(3):122-30. DOI: 10.1002/(sici)1520-6394(1999)9:3<122::aid-da4>3.0.co;2-m. View

13.

Willmore B, Mazer J, Gallant J . Sparse coding in striate and extrastriate visual cortex. J Neurophysiol. 2011; 105(6):2907-19. PMC: 3118756. DOI: 10.1152/jn.00594.2010. View

14.

Nudo R, Milliken G, Jenkins W, Merzenich M . Use-dependent alterations of movement representations in primary motor cortex of adult squirrel monkeys. J Neurosci. 1996; 16(2):785-807. PMC: 6578638. View

15.

Molina-Luna K, Hertler B, Buitrago M, Luft A . Motor learning transiently changes cortical somatotopy. Neuroimage. 2008; 40(4):1748-54. DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2007.11.018. View

16.

Georgopoulos A, Schwartz A, Kettner R . Neuronal population coding of movement direction. Science. 1986; 233(4771):1416-9. DOI: 10.1126/science.3749885. View

17.

Latremoliere A, Woolf C . Central sensitization: a generator of pain hypersensitivity by central neural plasticity. J Pain. 2009; 10(9):895-926. PMC: 2750819. DOI: 10.1016/j.jpain.2009.06.012. View

18.

Langers D, de Kleine E, van Dijk P . Tinnitus does not require macroscopic tonotopic map reorganization. Front Syst Neurosci. 2012; 6:2. PMC: 3269775. DOI: 10.3389/fnsys.2012.00002. View

19.

Olesen J, Leonardi M . The burden of brain diseases in Europe. Eur J Neurol. 2003; 10(5):471-7. DOI: 10.1046/j.1468-1331.2003.00682.x. View

20.

Takahashi H, Yokota R, Funamizu A, Kose H, Kanzaki R . Learning-stage-dependent, field-specific, map plasticity in the rat auditory cortex during appetitive operant conditioning. Neuroscience. 2011; 199:243-58. DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroscience.2011.09.046. View