Plasticity and Processing in the Whisker Map in Rat Somatosensory Cortex

 


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Air date: Monday, October 22, 2007, 12:00:00 PM
Category: Neuroscience
Runtime: 75 minutes
NLM Title: Plasticity and processing in the whisker map in rat somatosensory cortex [electronic resource] / Dan Feldman.
Series: NIH neuroscience seminar series
Author: Feldman, Dan.
National Institutes of Health (U.S.)
Publisher: [Bethesda, Md. : National Institutes of Health, 2007]
Other Title(s): NIH neuroscience seminar series
Abstract: (CIT): Dr. Feldman is interested in how circuits in the cerebral cortex process and store information about the sensory environment. His lab focuses on primary somatosensory (S1) cortex of the rat, which contains an orderly map of sensory input from the facial whiskers. The whisker map, like other sensory maps in the brain, is not fixed, but varies strongly with recent sensory experience. This phenomenon, called experience-dependent map plasticity, acts during development to transform immature circuits into appropriately organized connections that mediate adult sensory perception and sensory-guided behavior. In adults, such plasticity persists, and is thought to underlie certain forms of learning, and to contribute to recovery of function after stroke or peripheral injury. Though map plasticity occurs with common features across many brain regions, the cellular and synaptic mechanisms of map plasticity are largely unknown. A major focus of the lab's work is to identify these mechanisms, and to understand how they drive information storage and optimization of cortical circuits. They are also interested in how S1 encodes and processes somatosensory input, and how plasticity and learning alter this processing. Dr. Feldman received his Ph.D. in Neurobiology from Stanford University. He conducted postdoctoral research at the University of California, San Francisco, and the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS). He started his laboratory at UCSD in 2000, and currently holds the Walter F. Heiligenberg Professorship in Neuroethology. NIH Neuroscience Seminar Series.
Subjects: Brain Mapping
Neuronal Plasticity--physiology
Rats--physiology
Somatosensory Cortex--physiology
Vibrissae--innervation
Publication Types: Government Publications
Lectures
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NLM Classification: WL 102
NLM ID: 101319967
CIT File ID: 14089
CIT Live ID: 6166
Permanent link: http://videocast.nih.gov/launch.asp?14089

 

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