In the present study, the effect of NBM lesion on the temporal characteristics of response integration evoked by multiple whisker stimulations in the barrel cortex of rats was studied. Nucleus basalis of Meynert (NBM) projects to widespread areas of the cortex and provides the major cholinergic input (80%) to the cerebral cortex. In this study we examined the effects of NBM lesion on the respon...

A neural network model called LISSOM for the cooperative self-organization of a erent and lateral connections in cortical maps is applied to modeling cortical plasticity. After self-organization, the LISSOM maps are in a dynamic equilibrium with the input, and reorganize like the cortex in response to simulated cortical lesions and intracortical microstimulation. The model predicts that adaptin...

Ongoing spontaneous activity in cortical circuits defines cortical states, but it still remains unclear how cortical states shape sensory processing across cortical laminae and what type of response properties emerge in the cortex. Recording neural activity from the auditory cortex (AC) and medial geniculate body (MGB) simultaneously with electrical stimulations of the basal forebrain (BF) in u...

Frequency-dependent plasticity (FDP) describes adaptation at the synapse in response to stimulation at different frequencies. Its consequence on the structure and function of cortical networks is unknown. We tested whether cortical "resonance," favorable stimulation frequencies at which the sensory cortices respond maximally, influenced the impact of FDP on perception, functional topography, an...

Rats and other rodents use their vibrissae to actively explore the external environment, and can discriminate between similar textures using only their vibrissae. As a rat whisks against an object, patterns of vibrissa deflections are produced that reflect the interaction between the vibrissa movement and the textural properties of surfaces. The peripheral representations of the stimulus are tr...