Moderate excitation leads to weakening of perceptual representations.

ABSTRACT: A fundamental goal of memory research is to specify the conditions that lead to the strengthening and weakening of neural representations. Several computational models of memory formation predict that learning effects should vary as a nonmonotonic function of the amount of excitation received by a neural representation. Specifically, moderate excitation should result in synaptic weakening, while strong excitation should result in synaptic strengthening. In vitro investigations of plasticity in rodents have provided support for this prediction at the level of single synapses. However, it remains unclear whether this principle scales beyond the synapse to cortical representations and manifests changes in behavior. To address this question, we used electroencephalogram pattern classification

SUBMITTER: Newman EL 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2951848 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature