Investigating the functional consequences of visual long-term potentiation (LTP)

Abstract

Perceptual learning refers to the long-lasting improvements in perceptual behaviour as a result of intense task practice. Often, improvements in perceptual learning are accompanied by changes to the properties of the early sensory areas in the cortex, indicative of plasticity. This thesis investigated the relationship between plasticity and perceptual learning. If perceptual learning leads to modifications to early visual areas, do modifications to early visual areas lead to effects of learning? The visual long-term potentiation (LTP) paradigm was employed to induce modifications to early visual areas, and a visual psychophysics task was employed to measure its effects on learning. The results indicated that visual LTP led to decreased visual thresholds in the orientation-discrimination task. However, degree of visual LTP did not strongly predict the amount of perceptual learning. We suggested that increasing the duration of sensory stimulation in the visual LTP paradigm could strengthen the effect on learning, and increase the likelihood of showing a predictive relationship between visual LTP and perceptual learning.