Older Adults Exhibit Greater Visual Cortex Inhibition and Reduced Visual Cortex Plasticity Compared to Younger Adults

Effects of visual deprivation on synaptic plasticity of visual cortex

  TBS (Theta Burst Stimulation) and PBs (Primed Bursts) are among effective tetanic stimulations for induction of LTP in hippocampus. Recent studies have indicated that TBS is effective in LTP induction in layer III synapses of neocortex, only if applied to layer IV. However, the possibility of neocortical LTP induction using PBs, has not yet been investigated. Sensory deprivation greatly influ...

An fMRI study of human visual cortex in response to spatiotemporal properties of visual stimuli

  ABSTRACT  Background: The brain response to temporal frequencies (TF) has been already reported, but with no study reported for different TF with respect to various spatial frequencies (SF).  Materials and Methods: fMRI was performed by 1.5T GE-system in 14 volunteers during checkerboard, with TFs of 4, 6, 8 and 10Hz in low and high SFs of 0.5 and 8cpd.  Results: Average percentage BOLD signa...

Involvement of voltage-dependent calcium channels in synaptic plasticity of the rat visual cortex

In this study, involvement ofvoltage-dependent calcium channels in LTP of responses of rat visual cortex slices was analyzed. Field potentials including EPSP1 and EPSP2 from layers II/III were recorded through stimulation of layer IV. Whereas nifedipine, a L-type calcium channel blocker (L-VDCC), did not considerably affect the LTP of responses, but Ni2+, a relatively selective blocker of T-typ...

Visual Plasticity in Adults

Motor Learning and Movement Performance: Older versus Younger Adults

Introduction: Motor skills play an important role during life span, and older adults need to learn or relearn these skills. The purpose of this study was to investigate how aging affects induction of improved movement performance by motor training. Methods: Serial Reaction Time Test (SRTT) was used to assess movement performance during 8 blocks of motor training. Participants were tested i...