Unified pre- and postsynaptic long-term plasticity enables reliable and flexible learning.

ABSTRACT: Although it is well known that long-term synaptic plasticity can be expressed both pre- and postsynaptically, the functional consequences of this arrangement have remained elusive. We show that spike-timing-dependent plasticity with both pre- and postsynaptic expression develops receptive fields with reduced variability and improved discriminability compared to postsynaptic plasticity alone. These long-term modifications in receptive field statistics match recent sensory perception experiments. Moreover, learning with this form of plasticity leaves a hidden postsynaptic memory trace that enables fast relearning of previously stored information, providing a cellular substrate for memory savings. Our results reveal essential roles for presynaptic plasticity that are missed when only postsyna

SUBMITTER: Costa RP 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4584257 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature