Plasticity guest lecture Flashcards
what is plasticity
changes to neural representations over some time scale
produce altered behaviour
what is the difference between bottom up and top down scientific approaches
bottom up
- observe behaviour, build an understanding from there
top down
- starting from a hypothesis about the environment and then testing it
when is plasticity the highest
highest as a child
- if exposed as a child, more likely to develop that skill (such as language, perfect pitch, etc)
what is the rat barrel cortex
S1 in rats
have one clearly defined area per whisker (no overlap)
great scientific model for sensory deprivation and sensory representation
how can we track neural pathways
can be traced through viruses or radioactive tracers
what occurs to somatosensory representations after learning
increase size following learning
fundamental changes in how much brain is designated to a specific activity over time
what occurs when one eye is covered as a kitten
if the left eye is covered - shows profound right eye dominance
neurons in V1 respond to signals from each eye
is the plasticity from eye covering as a kitten reversed when the eye is uncovered
depends on the age where the eye is uncovered
- if younger - more likely to change
- if older - can still have neurons affected 14 months later
what occurs to motor function during learning
rapidly gets better at the task
perturbed movements get straighter through the learning period
what occurs to sensory function during learning
learning leads to higher precision in sensory function
what are the possible sensors for energy cost
blood O2 and CO2 - chemoreceptors
metabolic byproducts
muscle power from muscle spindles and GTOs
- main cause of efficiency
how do we know that gas sensors aren’t the main cause of efficiency
experiment shows big effects in ventilation and exertion but step frequency didn’t change
