Perceptual and neural consequences of early auditory experience
A general theory of development holds that a heightened period of neural plasticity is associated with greater vulnerability to the deprivation of sensory experience. For example, auditory deprivation during a discrete age range in gerbils induces long-lasting cortical synaptic deficits that can account for perceptual impairments. In contrast, little is known about the neural mechanisms associated with skill learning in juveniles. To address this issue, we recorded telemetrically from auditory cortex of juvenile and adult gerbils as they trained and improved on a psychometric task. Juveniles learned more slowly than adults, consistent with human studies (Huyck and Wright, 2011; Pattwell et al., 2012), and auditory cortex neuron sensitivity to the acoustic stimuli displayed smaller improvements during training. Together, these findings suggest that while juvenile animals display profound long-term benefits from practice, the cortical mechanisms that support skill learning are limited in the short-term.
Date:
18 May 2018, 13:00
Venue:
Sherrington Building, off Parks Road OX1 3PT
Venue Details:
Large Lecture Theatre
Speaker:
Professor Dan Sanes (New York University Center for Neural Science)
Organising department:
Department of Physiology, Anatomy and Genetics (DPAG)
Organiser:
Sally Collins (University of Oxford)
Organiser contact email address:
hod-pa@dpag.ox.ac.uk
Host:
Professor Victoria Baja Lorenzana (DPAG, University of Oxford)
Part of:
DPAG Head of Department Seminar Series
Booking required?:
Not required
Audience:
Members of the University only
Editor:
Sally Collins
