Grant: Joint Canada-Israel Health Research Program

Perceptual learning occurs when our brains improve our cognitive performance in specific tasks. For perceptual learning to occur, we need to repeatedly practice a specific sensory task, such as learning to discriminate two tones that are very close in their frequency or identify different shades of color. At first, our ability to discriminate two close tones is no different than chance, however, with repeated practice we can learn to tell them apart with remarkable precision. Perceptual learning is being recognized as an important way that adults improve their cognitive abilities during their lifetime. Perceptual learning is not limited to cases where remarkable specificity is required, such as for musicians, artists, and surgeons, but also for everyday skill development such as speech and language. Despite the importance of perceptual learning, the mechanisms that occur in the brain that allow the learning to happen are not understood, nor do we understand how to effectively treat learning abnormalities. In this project, we are discovering the neural mechanisms that occur in the brain that allow it to make fine discrimination among sounds. We are conducting this research in a genetic mouse model that allows us to identify the precise neural circuits and the underlying biological principles of learning in the brain.