Fast cortical dynamics: Receptive field plasticity, synaptic mechanisms and perceptual consequences

A new view of the cortical mechanisms of sensory processing has emerged, in which even in adult cortex, and even at early stages in the visual pathway, the response properties of cells are dynamic, influenced by experience and by the context within which features are presented. In this view the receptive field characteristics of individual cells, and the topography of cortex, are mutable. The functional dynamics of cortex can be documented at many levels, including alteration of cortical connections, receptive field structure, cortical functional architecture acid perception. It has been seen to take place over a wide range of time scales, ranging from seconds to months, and time course has obvious implications as to the functional role of this plasticity.