(June 17, 2015) Traffic
lights, neon-lit advertisements, a jungle of road signs. When learning to
drive, it is often very difficult to distinguish between important and
irrelevant information. How the brain learns the importance of certain images
over others is being investigated by Prof. Sonja Hofer at the Biozentrum of the
University of Basel. In a recently published study in “Neuron”, the
neuroscientist and her team show that learning the relevance of images
considerably modifies neuronal networks in the brain. These changes might help
our brain to process and classify the overload of stimuli in our environment
more effectively.
How we perceive our environment greatly depends on what we
have previously seen and learnt. For example, expert drivers do not need to
think twice about the meaning of different road signs and are experienced in
assessing traffic situations. They can filter out relevant information from a
flood of other irrelevant stimuli and thus react quickly. In contrast,
beginners need much longer to process the new information. Prof. Sonja Hofer’s
team at the Biozentrum of the University of Basel and University College London
addressed the question of how processing of sensory stimuli is optimized in the
brain through learning.