The cerebral cortex integrates sensory information with emotional states and internal representations to produce coherent percepts, form associations, and execute voluntary actions. For the cortex to optimize perception, its neuronal network needs to dynamically retrieve and encode new information. Over the last few decades, research has started to provide insight into how the cortex serves these functions. Building on classical Hebbian plasticity models, the latest hypotheses hold that throughout experience and learning, streams of feedforward, feedback, and modulatory information operate in selective and coordinated manners to alter the strength of synapses and ultimately change the response properties of cortical neurons. Here, we describe cortical plasticity mechanisms that involve the concerted action of feedforward and long-range feedback input onto pyramidal neurons as well as the implication of local disinhibitory circuit motifs in this process.

大脑皮层将感觉信息与情绪状态和内部表征相结合，以产生连贯的感知、形成联想并执行自愿行动。为了使皮层优化感知，其神经元网络需要动态检索和编码新信息。在过去的几十年里，研究已经开始深入了解皮层如何发挥这些功能。基于经典的赫布可塑性模型，最新假设认为，在整个经验和学习过程中，前馈、反馈和调节信息流以选择性和协调的方式运行，以改变突触的强度并最终改变皮层神经元的反应特性。这里，