Cortical plasticity
MIT Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences
Abstract
Plasticity shapes the brain during development, and mechanisms of plasticity continue into adulthood to enable learning and memory. Nearly all brain functions are influenced by past events, reinforcing the view that the confluence of plasticity and computation in the same circuit elements is a core component of biological intelligence. My laboratory studies plasticity in the cerebral cortex during development, and plasticity during behaviour that is manifest as cortical dynamics. I will describe how cortical plasticity is implemented by learning rules that involve not only Hebbian changes and synaptic scaling but also dendritic renormalization. By using advanced techniques such as optical measurements of single-synapse function and structure in identified neurons in awake behaving mice, we have recently demonstrated locally coordinated plasticity in dendrites whereby specific synapses are strengthened and adjacent synapses with complementary features are weakened. Together, these changes cooperatively implement functional plasticity in neurons. Such plasticity relies on the dynamics of activity-dependent molecules within and between synapses. Alongside, it is increasingly clear that risk genes associated with neurodevelopmental disorders disproportionately target molecules of plasticity. Deficits in renormalization contribute fundamentally to dysfunctional neuronal circuits and computations, and may be a unifying mechanistic feature of these disorders.
Topics
Related Seminars
Biophysical underpinnings of computation and learning in the neocortex
Mark Harnett presents work on how synaptic organization, nonlinear dendritic processing, and neuronal activity patterns interact to support computation, flexibility, and learning in the adult…
Neuromodulation of Circuit Plasticity: From Adaptive Behavior to Precision Therapeutics
Kuan Hong Wang examines how dopaminergic, cannabinoid, and neuroimmune signaling regulate circuit plasticity across development, experience, and disease, and how cross-species work may inform…
Finding Meaning in Memories
Daphna Shohamy and Ashok Litwin-Kumar bridge experimental and computational neuroscience to explain how the brain assigns significance to memories, how dopamine shapes memory-guided decisions, and…
Related Job Opportunities
Research Associate (Fixed Term)
We seek a highly motivated Postdoctoral Research Associate to join the laboratory of Professor Kathy Niakan. We are based in the Loke Centre for Trophoblast Research (LCTR), in the Department of…
Postdoctoral Scientist - Sarvestani Lab
The Sarvestani Lab at Cornell University is recruiting a postdoctoral scientist in systems neuroscience to study how visual and motor systems across the brain and body support perception and…
PhD Studentship: Mitochondrial Metabolism and Novel Therapeutic Strategies for Metabolic Dysfunction-Associated Steatotic Liver Disease (MASLD) (Fixed Term)
Supervisors: Professor Andrew Murray, Department of Physiology, Development and Neuroscience, University of Cambridge Dr Ross Lindsay, Novo Nordisk Funding: Fully funded PhD studentship (Home/UK…