PSYCH 3FA3 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Long-Term Potentiation, Evoked Potential, Motor Learning
Document Summary
Strengthening of horizontal cortical connections following skill learning. Previous literature has found that the primary motor cortex has a role in learning motor skills. The learning process is reflected by the functional reorganization of movement representations within the primary motor cortex (monfils et al. , 2005). The first research question of the study conducted by rioult et al. (1998) is whether learning is accompanied by functional synaptic modifications of m1 circuitry. And secondly, if natural learning uses the same mechanism as long-term potentiation. The hypothesis of this study is that the plasticity of. M1 connections create circuits needed to acquire or perform new motor behaviours. The capacity for long-term potentiation (ltp) increase is reduced after learning, so strengthening of the horizontal connections may involve ltp like mechanisms (rioult et al. , 1998). The term long- term potentiation refers to the persistent increase in synaptic strength that can be rapidly induced by brief neural activity.
