Spring Semester 2012

Cortical Plasticity

NSC 4V90.004     

Meeting time:  Monday and Wednesday 8:30-9:45 am  Meeting Place: GR4.301

Instructor: Dr. Michael P. Kilgard
Office: JO 4.304    
Office hours: Wednesday 2-3 pm
Office phone: (972) 883-2339
E-mail address: kilgard@utdallas.edu

Teaching assistant: TBA

Weekly review session: TBA

E-mail address: TBA

Course Description

    This course will review the basic principles of neural plasticity with special emphasis on cortical plasticity related to development, recovery from injury and learning.

    Lectures will provide students with the appropriate background for each topic, and discussions will explore classic and modern primary papers. Workload will consist of readings, class presentations, class participation, and weekly written critiques.  

    This first aim of the course is to provide a detailed and up-to-date understanding of the concepts and methods involved in a well-studied aspect of brain function: plasticity. The focused nature of this course will be a useful supplement to a general education of brain function based on surveys of many fields. Because similar plasticity principles apply throughout the brain the detailed description of cortical plasticity provided by this course will serve as a conceptual starting point for thinking about other brain regions. An additional aim of this course is to relate the discussed concepts to clinically relevant issues. This course assumes only a general understanding of basic neuroscience principles and will be useful to students interested in neuroscience, communication disorders, cognitive science, developmental psychology, biology, computer science, or neural networks. It is recommended that students have taken Cellular Neuroscience and Integrative Neuroscience.

Material Discussed

Concepts:

·         Developmental plasticity

·         Pathological plasticity

·         Plasticity induced by peripheral injury

·         Plasticity induced by central injury

Techniques/Approaches:

 

Course Requirements

    All assigned readings must be completed before each class.

Critiques – 20% of final grade.

    Each week you will need to email a concise, thoughtful critique of one of the papers for discussion. Support your conclusions using concrete evidence and quotations, not merely your opinion. The following outline is suggested: (1) Summarize in 1-2 sentences the key take-home message(s) of the paper. (2) Place the paper in context within the literature we have covered in class. What central problems does it address? How does it differ from other work we studied? How does it advance the field? (3) Critique the methods and conclusions. Are there any flaws in technique or logic? Are the experiments or conclusions believable? (4) Discuss the paper in terms of key concepts we have covered in class. (5) Suggest improvements or additional work. What important related questions does the paper leave open? Critique assignments should be about a page long and should be on the primary research papers not the review articles.

Individual class participation – 50% of final grade

In class presentation – 20% of final grade.

Attendance – 10% of final grade

Objectives
        On completion of this course, students should be able to:

 

 

Reading list (and chapters/papers for discussion):

1-18 Course Introduction and advice on how to read neuroscience papers

1-23 Chapter 56 Principles of Neural Science – Developmental Plasticity

1-25 Chapter 63 Principles of Neural Science – Adult Plasticity

1-30 Plasticity of ocular dominance columns in monkey striate cortex. 1977 (986 citations)

2-1 Plasticity of ocular dominance columns in monkey striate cortex. 1977 (986 citations)

 

2-6 Topographic reorganization of somatosensory cortical areas 3b and 1 in adult monkeys following restricted deafferentation 1983 (575 citations) 

2-8 Somatosensory cortical map changes following digit amputation in adult monkeys 1984 (767 citations)

 

Optional review article Plasticity of Sensory and Motor Maps in Adult Mammals 1991 (623 citations)

 

2-13 Student Presentations

2-15 Student Presentations

 

2-20  Modulation of visual cortical plasticity by acetylcholine and noradrenaline 1986 (572 citations)

2-22 Rapid Reorganization of Adult Rat Motor Cortex Somatic Representation Patterns after Motor Nerve Injury  1988 (147 citations)

2-27 Classical conditioning induces CS-specific receptive field plasticity in the auditory cortex of the guinea pig 1990 (216 citations)

2-29 Plasticity in the frequency representation of primary auditory cortex following discrimination training in adult owl monkeys 1993 (717 citations)

3-5 Dependence of cortical plasticity on correlated activity of single neurons and on behavioral context 1992 (304  citations)  

3-7 Functional MRI evidence for adult motor cortex plasticity during motor skill learning 1995 (924 citations)

3-19 Student Presentations

3-21 Student Presentations

3-26 Cortical Map Reorganization Enabled by Nucleus Basalis Activity 1998 (588 citations)

3-28 Sleep Enhances Plasticity in the Developing Visual Cortex 2001 (196 citations)

4-2 Pharmacological Modulation of Perceptual Learning and Associated Cortical Reorganization 2003 (120 citations)

4-4 The Basal Forebrain Cholinergic System Is Essential for Cortical Plasticity and Functional Recovery 2005 (61 citations)

4-9 Student Presentations

4-11 A synaptic memory trace for cortical receptive field plasticity 2007 (62 citations)

4-16 Categorization training results in shape-and category-selective human neural plasticity 2007 (57 citations)

4-18 Neuromodulators Control the Polarity of Spike-Timing-Dependent Synaptic Plasticity 2007 (63 citations)

4-23 The Antidepressant Fluoxetine Restores Plasticity in the Adult Visual Cortex 2008 (80 citations)

4-25 Developmentally degraded cortical temporal processing restored by training 2009 (10 citations)

4-30 Reversing Pathological Neural Activity Using Targeted Plasticity, 2011 (see also link)

5-2 Group Discussion

 

 Any schedule changes will be posted at:  www.utdallas.edu/~kilgard/PlasticitySP12.htm

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The University of Texas at Dallas administers student discipline within the procedures of recognized and established due process.  Procedures are defined and described in the Rules and Regulations, Board of Regents, The University of Texas System, Part 1, Chapter VI, Section 3, and in Title V, Rules on Student Services and Activities of the university’s Handbook of Operating Procedures.  Copies of these rules and regulations are available to students in the Office of the Dean of Students, where staff members are available to assist students in interpreting the rules and regulations (SU 1.602, 972/883-6391).

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