Dataset Information

Crossmodal induction of thalamocortical potentiation leads to enhanced information processing in the auditory cortex.

ABSTRACT: Sensory systems do not work in isolation; instead, they show interactions that are specifically uncovered during sensory loss. To identify and characterize these interactions, we investigated whether visual deprivation leads to functional enhancement in primary auditory cortex (A1). We compared sound-evoked responses of A1 neurons in visually deprived animals to those from normally reared animals. Here, we show that visual deprivation leads to improved frequency selectivity as well as increased frequency and intensity discrimination performance of A1 neurons. Furthermore, we demonstrate in vitro that in adults visual deprivation strengthens thalamocortical (TC) synapses in A1, but not in primary visual cortex (V1). Because deafening potentiated TC synapses in V1, but not A1, crossmodal TC potentiation seems to be a general property of adult cortex. Our results suggest that adults retain the capability for crossmodal changes whereas such capability is absent within a sensory modality. Thus, multimodal training paradigms might be beneficial in sensory-processing disorders.

SUBMITTER: Petrus E

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4023256 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Crossmodal induction of thalamocortical potentiation leads to enhanced information processing in the auditory cortex.

Petrus Emily E Isaiah Amal A Jones Adam P AP Li David D Wang Hui H Lee Hey-Kyoung HK Kanold Patrick O PO

Neuron 20140201 3

Sensory systems do not work in isolation; instead, they show interactions that are specifically uncovered during sensory loss. To identify and characterize these interactions, we investigated whether visual deprivation leads to functional enhancement in primary auditory cortex (A1). We compared sound-evoked responses of A1 neurons in visually deprived animals to those from normally reared animals. Here, we show that visual deprivation leads to improved frequency selectivity as well as increased ...[more]

PMID: 24507197

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Project description:Many lines of evidence point to a tight linkage between the perceptual and motoric representations of actions. Numerous demonstrations show how the visual perception of an action engages compatible activity in the observer's motor system. This is seen for both intransitive actions (e.g., in the case of unconscious postural imitation) and transitive actions (e.g., grasping an object). Although the discovery of "mirror neurons" in macaques has inspired explanations of these processes in human action behaviors, the evidence for areas in the human brain that similarly form a crossmodal visual/motor representation of actions remains incomplete. To address this, in the present study, participants performed and observed hand actions while being scanned with functional MRI. We took a data-driven approach by applying whole-brain information mapping using a multivoxel pattern analysis (MVPA) classifier, performed on reconstructed representations of the cortical surface. The aim was to identify regions in which local voxelwise patterns of activity can distinguish among different actions, across the visual and motor domains. Experiment 1 tested intransitive, meaningless hand movements, whereas experiment 2 tested object-directed actions (all right-handed). Our analyses of both experiments revealed crossmodal action regions in the lateral occipitotemporal cortex (bilaterally) and in the left postcentral gyrus/anterior parietal cortex. Furthermore, in experiment 2 we identified a gradient of bias in the patterns of information in the left hemisphere postcentral/parietal region. The postcentral gyrus carried more information about the effectors used to carry out the action (fingers vs. whole hand), whereas anterior parietal regions carried more information about the goal of the action (lift vs. punch). Taken together, these results provide evidence for common neural coding in these areas of the visual and motor aspects of actions, and demonstrate further how MVPA can contribute to our understanding of the nature of distributed neural representations.

Dataset Information

Crossmodal induction of thalamocortical potentiation leads to enhanced information processing in the auditory cortex.

Publications

Crossmodal induction of thalamocortical potentiation leads to enhanced information processing in the auditory cortex.

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