Topic: local plasticity

The acquisition of novel motor skills requires new patterns of neural activity and changes in synaptic weights, yet the precise rules governing synaptic plasticity in the motor cortex and how they give rise to the observed changes in activity are still unknown. Brain computer interfaces (BCIs) allow for task improvement to be directly linked to changes in neural activity. Recent experiments that pair BCIs with all-optical circuit mapping allow for the simultaneous tracking of in vivo changes in connectivity while task-relevant activity learning occurs. In silico models of learning allow for th

To date, our understanding of how the human brain retrieves, processes, and stores information remains limited. A specific challenge lies in unravelling how local plasticity mechanisms shape the transfer of information between neurons. Traditional approaches to studying local plasticity in vitro, such as patch clamp or calcium imaging, are often limited by low throughput or the ability to record only from a subset of neurons within intricate networks. In response to these challenges, we adopt a bottom-up approach to engineer low-density neuronal networks with defined architectures. Human induc