Humans show improvement on a wide variety of tasks. Some of this learning has been shown to be sleep-dependent and to represent plasticity of cortical regions. Specific sleep stages have been associated with improvement on different tasks. Another recently reported phenomenon of experience-dependent plasticity is that with repeated, within day practice on the same task the visual system shows a decrease in performance. This decrease has also been shown to be retinotopically specific and ameliorated with a daytime nap. Plastic changes in early visual cortex due to learning has been examined using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), and has shown significant increases in blood flow to areas of retinotopic visual cortex that are spatially aligned with learned target positions. During my post doctoral position, I will receive new training on the techniques and methods of fMRI, and examine cortical changes associated with perceptual learning and deterioration, as well as examining the role of attention on these phenomena.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Eye Institute (NEI)
Type
Postdoctoral Individual National Research Service Award (F32)
Project #
5F32EY015564-02
Application #
6860087
Study Section
Special Emphasis Panel (ZRG1-F02B (20))
Program Officer
Oberdorfer, Michael
Project Start
2003-12-01
Project End
2006-11-30
Budget Start
2004-12-01
Budget End
2005-11-30
Support Year
2
Fiscal Year
2005
Total Cost
$43,976
Indirect Cost
Name
Salk Institute for Biological Studies
Department
Type
DUNS #
078731668
City
La Jolla
State
CA
Country
United States
Zip Code
92037
Mednick, Sara C; Drummond, Sean P A; Arman, A Cyrus et al. (2008) Perceptual deterioration is reflected in the neural response: fMRI study of nappers and non-nappers. Perception 37:1086-97