Mechanisms In Visual Cortex Research Articles

A Visual Cortex-Attentive Deep Convolutional Neural Network for Digital Image Design

With the proliferation of advanced visualization techniques in visual communication, enhancing digital image quality remains a persistent challenge. This study presents a sophisticated Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) model to optimize image processing. The model incorporates a multi-stage architecture attentive to biological visual pathways. Inter-subnetwork connections enable integrated feature learning, guided by adaptive weighting of luminance, color, orientation, and edge maps. Spatial and channel attention modules further enrich feature interplay. When evaluated on the LIVE 3D Phase dataset, the approach demonstrates marked improvements, with saliency maps closely mirroring human visual perception. Pearson Correlation Coefficient and Histogram Intersection metrics exceed conventional models, at 0.6486 and 0.7074 respectively. Testing across distortion types reveals strong agreement with subjective rankings, confirming the model's effectiveness. By combining automated feature extraction with insights from visual cortex mechanisms, this bio-inspired CNN framework significantly enhances image optimization and quality. The scalable approach provides a foundation for next-generation computer vision and machine learning applications.

Neural Mechanisms of Attentional Control for Objects: Decoding EEG Alpha When Anticipating Faces, Scenes,and Tools.

Attentional selection mechanisms in visual cortex involve changes in oscillatory activity in the EEG alpha band (8-12 Hz), with decreased alpha indicating focal cortical enhancement and increased alpha indicating suppression. This has been observed for spatial selective attention and attention to stimulus features such as color versus motion. We investigated whether attention to objects involves similar alpha-mediated changes in focal cortical excitability. In experiment 1, 20 volunteers (8 males; 12 females) were cued (80% predictive) on a trial-by-trial basis to different objects (faces, scenes, or tools). Support vector machine decoding of alpha power patterns revealed that late (>500 ms latency) in the cue-to-target foreperiod, only EEG alpha differed with the to-be-attended object category. In experiment 2, to eliminate the possibility that decoding of the physical features of cues led to our results, 25 participants (9 males; 16 females) performed a similar task where cues were nonpredictive of the object category. Alpha decoding was now only significant in the early (<200 ms) foreperiod. In experiment 3, to eliminate the possibility that task set differences between the different object categories led to our experiment 1 results, 12 participants (5 males; 7 females) performed a predictive cuing task where the discrimination task for different objects was identical across object categories. The results replicated experiment 1. Together, these findings support the hypothesis that the neural mechanisms of visual selective attention involve focal cortical changes in alpha power not only for simple spatial and feature attention, but also for high-level object attention in humans.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Attention is the cognitive function that enables relevant information to be selected from sensory inputs so it can be processed in the support of goal-directed behavior. Visual attention is widely studied, yet the neural mechanisms underlying the selection of visual information remain unclear. Oscillatory EEG activity in the alpha range (8-12 Hz) of neural populations receptive to target visual stimuli may be part of the mechanism, because alpha is thought to reflect focal neural excitability. Here, we show that alpha-band activity, as measured by scalp EEG from human participants, varies with the specific category of object selected by attention. This finding supports the hypothesis that alpha-band activity is a fundamental component of the neural mechanisms of attention.

A Multi-Scale Colour and Keypoint Density-Based Approach for Visual Saliency Detection

In the first seconds of observation of an image, several visual attention processes are involved in the identification of the visual targets that pop-out from the scene to our eyes. Saliency is the quality that makes certain regions of an image stand out from the visual field and grab our attention. Saliency detection models, inspired by visual cortex mechanisms, employ both colour and luminance features. Furthermore, both locations of pixels and presence of objects influence the Visual Attention processes. In this paper, we propose a new saliency method based on the combination of the distribution of interest points in the image with multiscale analysis, a centre bias module and a machine learning approach. We use perceptually uniform colour spaces to study how colour impacts on the extraction of saliency. To investigate eye-movements and assess the performances of saliency methods over object-based images, we conduct experimental sessions on our dataset ETTO (Eye Tracking Through Objects). Experiments show our approach to be accurate in the detection of saliency concerning state-of-the-art methods and accessible eye-movement datasets. The performances over object-based images are excellent and consistent on generic pictures. Besides, our work reveals interesting findings on some relationships between saliency and perceptually uniform colour spaces.

Figure and ground: how the visual cortex integrates local cues for global organization.

Inferring figure-ground organization in two-dimensional images may require different complementary strategies. For isolated objects, it has been shown that mechanisms in visual cortex exploit the overall distribution of contours, but in images of cluttered scenes where the grouping of contours is not obvious, that strategy would fail. However, natural scenes contain local features, specifically contour junctions, that may contribute to the definition of object regions. To study the role of local features in the assignment of border ownership, we recorded single-cell activity from visual cortex in awake behaving Macaca mulatta. We tested configurations perceived as two overlapping figures in which T- and L-junctions depend on the direction of overlap, whereas the overall distribution of contours provides no valid information. While recording responses to the occluding contour, we varied direction of overlap and variably masked some of the critical contour features to determine their influences and their interactions. On average, most features influenced the responses consistently, producing either enhancement or suppression depending on border ownership. Different feature types could have opposite effects even at the same location. Features far from the receptive field produced effects as strong as near features and with the same short latency. Summation was highly nonlinear: any single feature produced more than two-thirds of the effect of all features together. These findings reveal fast and highly specific organization mechanisms, supporting a previously proposed model in which "grouping cells" integrate widely distributed edge signals with specific end-stopped signals to modulate the original edge signals by feedback. NEW & NOTEWORTHY Seeing objects seems effortless, but defining objects in a scene requires sophisticated neural mechanisms. For isolated objects, the visual cortex groups contours based on overall distribution, but this strategy does not work for cluttered scenes. Here, we demonstrate mechanisms that integrate local contour features like T- and L-junctions to resolve clutter. The process is fast, evaluates widely distributed features, and gives any single feature a decisive influence on figure-ground representation.

Visual Working Memory Is Independent of the Cortical Spacing Between Memoranda.

The sensory recruitment hypothesis states that visual short-term memory is maintained in the same visual cortical areas that initially encode a stimulus' features. Although it is well established that the distance between features in visual cortex determines their visibility, a limitation known as crowding, it is unknown whether short-term memory is similarly constrained by the cortical spacing of memory items. Here, we investigated whether the cortical spacing between sequentially presented memoranda affects the fidelity of memory in humans (of both sexes). In a first experiment, we varied cortical spacing by taking advantage of the log-scaling of visual cortex with eccentricity, presenting memoranda in peripheral vision sequentially along either the radial or tangential visual axis with respect to the fovea. In a second experiment, we presented memoranda sequentially either within or beyond the critical spacing of visual crowding, a distance within which visual features cannot be perceptually distinguished due to their nearby cortical representations. In both experiments and across multiple measures, we found strong evidence that the ability to maintain visual features in memory is unaffected by cortical spacing. These results indicate that the neural architecture underpinning working memory has properties inconsistent with the known behavior of sensory neurons in visual cortex. Instead, the dissociation between perceptual and memory representations supports a role of higher cortical areas such as posterior parietal or prefrontal regions or may involve an as yet unspecified mechanism in visual cortex in which stimulus features are bound to their temporal order.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Although much is known about the resolution with which we can remember visual objects, the cortical representation of items held in short-term memory remains contentious. A popular hypothesis suggests that memory of visual features is maintained via the recruitment of the same neural architecture in sensory cortex that encodes stimuli. We investigated this claim by manipulating the spacing in visual cortex between sequentially presented memoranda such that some items shared cortical representations more than others while preventing perceptual interference between stimuli. We found clear evidence that short-term memory is independent of the intracortical spacing of memoranda, revealing a dissociation between perceptual and memory representations. Our data indicate that working memory relies on different neural mechanisms from sensory perception.

Distinct effects of contour smoothness and observer bias on visual persistence.

Stable object perception relies on persistent yet temporary neural representations under constantly fluctuating stimulus conditions. The mechanisms by which such representations are formed and maintained are not fully understood but presumably involve interplay between early and higher tier visual cortical mechanisms. Some neurophysiological models of feature binding in early visual cortex predict persistent contour perception under certain stimulus conditions. Here we show that the duration of contour persistence reflects the persistent operation of visual mechanisms sensitive to contour smoothness, which also influences contour visibility more generally under highly camouflaging stimulus conditions. We distinguish the effect of contour smoothness on contour persistence from observer bias, which also contributes to the surprisingly long duration of contour persistence. We conclude that the strong modulatory effects of contour smoothness on persistence are due to the sustained reverberation of local and global contour-binding mechanisms in visual cortex, which form an important basis of perceptual continuity and stable object perception.

A temporal dependency account of attentional inhibition in oculomotor control

We used concurrent electroencephalogram (EEG) and eye tracking to investigate the role of covert attentional mechanisms in the control of oculomotor behavior. Human participants made speeded saccades to targets that were presented alongside salient distractors. By subsequently sorting trials based on whether the distractor was strongly represented or suppressed by the visual system – as evident in the accuracy (Exp. 1) or quality of the saccade (Exp. 2) – we could characterize and contrast pre-saccadic neural activity as a function of whether oculomotor control was established. Results show that saccadic behavior is strongly linked to the operation of attentional mechanisms in visual cortex. In Experiment 1, accurate saccades were preceded by attentional selection of the target – indexed by a target-elicited N2pc component – and by attentional suppression of the distractor – indexed by early and late distractor-elicited distractor positivity (Pd) components. In Experiment 2, the strength of distractor suppression predicted the degree to which the path of slower saccades would deviate away from the distractor en route to the target. However, results also demonstrated clear dissociations of covert and overt selective control, with saccadic latency in particular showing no relationship to the latency of covert selective mechanisms. Eye movements could thus be initiated prior to the onset of attentional ERP components, resulting in stimulus-driven behaviour. Taken together, the results indicate that attentional mechanisms play a role in determining saccadic behavior, but that saccade timing is not contingent on the deployment of attention. This creates a temporal dependency, whereby attention fosters oculomotor control only when attentional mechanisms are given sufficient opportunity to impact stimuli representations before an eye movement is executed.

A neural model of MST and MT explains perceived object motion during self-motion

When a moving object cuts in front of a moving observer at a 90° angle, the observer correctly perceives that the object is traveling along a perpendicular path just as if viewing the moving object from a stationary vantage point. Although the observer9s own (self-)motion affects the object9s pattern of motion on the retina, the visual system is able to factor out the influence of self-motion and recover the world-relative motion of the object (Matsumiya and Ando, 2009). This is achieved by using information in global optic flow (Rushton and Warren, 2005; Warren and Rushton, 2009; Fajen and Matthis, 2013) and other sensory arrays (Dupin and Wexler, 2013; Fajen et al., 2013; Dokka et al., 2015) to estimate and deduct the component of the object9s local retinal motion that is due to self-motion. However, this account (known as “flow parsing”) is qualitative and does not shed light on mechanisms in the visual system that recover object motion during self-motion. We present a simple computational account that makes explicit possible mechanisms in visual cortex by which self-motion signals in the medial superior temporal area interact with object motion signals in the middle temporal area to transform object motion into a world-relative reference frame. The model (1) relies on two mechanisms (MST-MT feedback and disinhibition of opponent motion signals in MT) to explain existing data, (2) clarifies how pathways for self-motion and object-motion perception interact, and (3) unifies the existing flow parsing hypothesis with established neurophysiological mechanisms. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT To intercept targets, we must perceive the motion of objects that move independently from us as we move through the environment. Although our self-motion substantially alters the motion of objects on the retina, compelling evidence indicates that the visual system at least partially compensates for self-motion such that object motion relative to the stationary environment can be more accurately perceived. We have developed a model that sheds light on plausible mechanisms within the visual system that transform retinal motion into a world-relative reference frame. Our model reveals how local motion signals (generated through interactions within the middle temporal area) and global motion signals (feedback from the dorsal medial superior temporal area) contribute and offers a new hypothesis about the connection between pathways for heading and object motion perception.

A Neural Model of MST and MT Explains Perceived Object Motion during Self-Motion.

When a moving object cuts in front of a moving observer at a 90° angle, the observer correctly perceives that the object is traveling along a perpendicular path just as if viewing the moving object from a stationary vantage point. Although the observer's own (self-)motion affects the object's pattern of motion on the retina, the visual system is able to factor out the influence of self-motion and recover the world-relative motion of the object (Matsumiya and Ando, 2009). This is achieved by using information in global optic flow (Rushton and Warren, 2005; Warren and Rushton, 2009; Fajen and Matthis, 2013) and other sensory arrays (Dupin and Wexler, 2013; Fajen et al., 2013; Dokka et al., 2015) to estimate and deduct the component of the object's local retinal motion that is due to self-motion. However, this account (known as "flow parsing") is qualitative and does not shed light on mechanisms in the visual system that recover object motion during self-motion. We present a simple computational account that makes explicit possible mechanisms in visual cortex by which self-motion signals in the medial superior temporal area interact with object motion signals in the middle temporal area to transform object motion into a world-relative reference frame. The model (1) relies on two mechanisms (MST-MT feedback and disinhibition of opponent motion signals in MT) to explain existing data, (2) clarifies how pathways for self-motion and object-motion perception interact, and (3) unifies the existing flow parsing hypothesis with established neurophysiological mechanisms. To intercept targets, we must perceive the motion of objects that move independently from us as we move through the environment. Although our self-motion substantially alters the motion of objects on the retina, compelling evidence indicates that the visual system at least partially compensates for self-motion such that object motion relative to the stationary environment can be more accurately perceived. We have developed a model that sheds light on plausible mechanisms within the visual system that transform retinal motion into a world-relative reference frame. Our model reveals how local motion signals (generated through interactions within the middle temporal area) and global motion signals (feedback from the dorsal medial superior temporal area) contribute and offers a new hypothesis about the connection between pathways for heading and object motion perception.

Two common psychophysical measures of surround suppression reflect independent neuronal mechanisms.

Psychophysical surround suppression is believed to reflect inhibitory neuronal mechanisms in visual cortex. In recent years, two psychophysical measures of surround suppression have been much studied: (i) duration thresholds on a motion-discrimination task (which are worse for larger than for smaller stimuli) and (ii) contrast thresholds on a contrast-detection task (which are worse when grating stimuli are surrounded by a stimulus of the same orientation than when they are presented in isolation or surrounded by a stimulus of orthogonal orientation). Changes in both metrics have been linked to several different human conditions, including aging, differences in intelligence, and clinical disorders such as schizophrenia, depression, and autism. However, the exact nature of the neuronal correlate underlying these phenomena remains unclear. Here, we use an individual-differences approach to test the hypothesis that both measures reflect the same property of the visual system, e.g., the strength of GABA-ergic inhibition across visual cortex. Under this hypothesis we would expect the two measures to be significantly positively correlated across individuals. In fact, they are not significantly correlated. In addition, we replicate the previously reported correlation between age and motion-discrimination surround suppression, but find no correlation between age and contrast-detection surround suppression. We conclude that the two forms of psychophysical surround suppression arise independently from different cortical mechanisms.

Effect of the small-world structure on encoding performance in the primary visual cortex: an electrophysiological and modeling analysis.

The biological networks have been widely reported to present small-world properties. However, the effects of small-world network structure on population's encoding performance remain poorly understood. To address this issue, we applied a small world-based framework to quantify and analyze the response dynamics of cell assemblies recorded from rat primary visual cortex, and further established a population encoding model based on small world-based generalized linear model (SW-GLM). The electrophysiological experimental results show that the small world-based population responses to different topological shapes present significant variation (t test, p < 0.01; effect size: Hedge's g > 0.8), while no significant variation was found for control networks without considering their spatial connectivity (t test, p > 0.05; effect size: Hedge's g < 0.5). Furthermore, the numerical experimental results show that the predicted response under SW-GLM is more accurate and reliable compared to the control model without small-world structure, and the decoding performance is also improved about 10 % by taking the small-world structure into account. The above results suggest the important role of the small-world neural structure in encoding visual information for the neural population by providing electrophysiological and theoretical evidence, respectively. The study helps greatly to well understand the population encoding mechanisms of visual cortex.

Visual asymmetry revisited: Mind wandering preferentially disrupts processing in the left visual field

An emerging theory proposes that visual attention operates in parallel at two distinct time scales – a shorter one (<1s) associated with moment-to-moment orienting of selective visuospatial attention, and a longer one (>10s) associated with more global aspects of attention-to-task. Given their parallel nature, here we examined whether these comparatively slower fluctuations in task-related attention show the same visual field asymmetry – namely, a right visual field bias – as often reported for selective visual–spatial attention. Participants performed a target detection task at fixation while event-related potentials (ERP) time-locked to task-irrelevant visual probes presented in the left and right visual fields were recorded. At random intervals, participants were asked to report whether they were “on-task” or “mind wandering”. Our results demonstrated that sensory attenuation during periods of “mind wandering” relative to “on-task”, as measured by the visual P1 ERP component at electrodes sites contralateral to the stimulus, was only observed for probes presented in the left visual field. In contrast, the magnitude of sensory gain in the right visual field was insensitive to whether participants were “on-task” or “mind wandering”. Taken together, our results support the notion that task-related attention at longer time scales and spatial attention at shorter time scales affect the same underlying mechanism in visual cortex.

Recovery from Retinal Lesions: Molecular Plasticity Mechanisms in Visual Cortex Far beyond the Deprived Zone

In cats with central retinal lesions, deprivation of the lesion projection zone (LPZ) in primary visual cortex (area 17) induces remapping of the cortical topography. Recovery of visually driven cortical activity in the LPZ involves distinct changes in protein expression. Recent observations, about molecular activity changes throughout area 17, challenge the view that its remote nondeprived parts would not be involved in this recovery process. We here investigated the dynamics of the protein expression pattern of remote nondeprived area 17 triggered by central retinal lesions to explore to what extent far peripheral area 17 would contribute to the topographic map reorganization inside the visual cortex. Using functional proteomics, we identified 40 proteins specifically differentially expressed between far peripheral area 17 of control and experimental animals 14 days to 8 months postlesion. Our results demonstrate that far peripheral area 17 is implicated in the functional adaptation to the visual deprivation, involving a meshwork of interacting proteins, operating in diverse pathways. In particular, endocytosis/exocytosis processes appeared to be essential via their intimate correlation with long-term potentiation and neurite outgrowth mechanisms.

Biomimetic Construction of Category Mental Imagery Based on Recognition Mechanism of Visual Cortex of Human Brain

The principle of homology-continuity in Multi-Dimensional Biomimetic Informatics Space is applied to construct the identifying mechanism of category of deep representation of mental imagery. The model of each cerebral region involved in recognizing is established respectively and a feedforward method for establishing category mental imagery is proposed. First, the model of feature acquisition is developed based on Hubel-Wiesel model, and Gaussian function is used to simulate the simple cell receptive field to satisfy the specific function of visual cortex. Second, multiple input aggregation operation is employed to simulate the feature output of complex cells to get the invariance representation in feature space. Then, imagery basis is extracted by unsupervised learning algorithm based on the primary feature and category mental imagery is obtained by building Radial Basis Function (RBF) network. Finally, the system model is tested by training set and test set composed of real images. Experimental results show that the proposed method can establish valid deep representation of these samples, based on which the biomimetic construction of category mental imagery can be achieved. This method provides a new idea for solving imagery problem and studying imagery thinking.

Refining the visual-cortical hypothesis in category learning

Participants produce steep typicality gradients and large prototype-enhancement effects in dot-distortion category tasks, showing that in these tasks to-be-categorized items are compared to a prototypical representation that is the central tendency of the participant’s exemplar experience. These prototype-abstraction processes have been ascribed to low-level mechanisms in primary visual cortex. Here we asked whether higher-level mechanisms in visual cortex can also sometimes support prototype abstraction. To do so, we compared dot-distortion performance when the stimuli were size constant (allowing some low-level repetition-familiarity to develop for similar shapes) or size variable (defeating repetition-familiarity effects). If prototype formation is only mediated by low-level mechanisms, stimulus-size variability should lessen prototype effects and flatten typicality gradients. Yet prototype effects and typicality gradients were the same under both conditions, whether participants learned the categories explicitly or implicitly and whether they received trial-by-trial reinforcement during transfer tests. These results broaden out the visual-cortical hypothesis because low-level visual areas, featuring retinotopic perceptual representations, would not support robust category learning or prototype-enhancement effects in an environment of pronounced variability in stimulus size. Therefore, higher-level cortical mechanisms evidently can also support prototype formation during categorization.

Ocular dominance plasticity maintained by cyclic amp-dependent protein kinase activation: A general mechanism in visual cortex

Ocular dominance plasticity maintained by cyclic amp-dependent protein kinase activation: A general mechanism in visual cortex

Developmental changes in GABAergic mechanisms in human visual cortex across the lifespan

Functional maturation of visual cortex is linked with dynamic changes in synaptic expression of GABAergic mechanisms. These include setting the excitation–inhibition balance required for experience-dependent plasticity, as well as, intracortical inhibition underlying development and aging of receptive field properties. Animal studies have shown that there is developmental regulation of GABAergic mechanisms in visual cortex. In this study, we show for the first time how these mechanisms develop in the human visual cortex across the lifespan. We used Western blot analysis of postmortem tissue from human primary visual cortex (n = 30, range: 20 days to 80 years) to quantify expression of eight pre- and post-synaptic GABAergic markers. We quantified the inhibitory modulating cannabinoid receptor (CB1), GABA vesicular transporter (VGAT), GABA synthesizing enzymes (GAD65/GAD67), GABAA receptor anchoring protein (Gephyrin), and GABAA receptor subunits (GABAAα1, GABAAα2, GABAAα3). We found a complex pattern of different developmental trajectories, many of which were prolonged and continued well into the teen, young adult, and even older adult years. These included a monotonic increase or decrease (GABAAα1, GABAAα2), a biphasic increase then decrease (GAD65, Gephyrin), or multiple increases and decreases (VGAT, CB1) across the lifespan. Comparing the balances between the pre- and post-synaptic markers we found three main transition stages (early childhood, early teen years, aging) when there were rapid switches in the composition of the GABAergic signaling system, indicating that functioning of the GABAergic system must change as the visual cortex develops and ages. Furthermore, these results provide key information for translating therapies developed in animal models into effective treatments for amblyopia in humans.

Corrigendum to “Rapid eye movement sleep deprivation in post-critical period, adolescent rats alters the balance between inhibitory and excitatory mechanisms in visual cortex” [Neurosci. Lett. 393 (2006) 131–135

Corrigendum to “Rapid eye movement sleep deprivation in post-critical period, adolescent rats alters the balance between inhibitory and excitatory mechanisms in visual cortex” [Neurosci. Lett. 393 (2006) 131–135

Phonological processing of ignored distractor pictures, an fMRI investigation

BackgroundNeuroimaging studies of attention often focus on interactions between stimulus representations and top-down selection mechanisms in visual cortex. Less is known about the neural representation of distractor stimuli beyond visual areas, and the interactions between stimuli in linguistic processing areas. In the present study, participants viewed simultaneously presented line drawings at peripheral locations, while in the MRI scanner. The names of the objects depicted in these pictures were either phonologically related (i.e. shared the same consonant-vowel onset construction), or unrelated. Attention was directed either at the linguistic properties of one of these pictures, or at the fixation point (i.e. away from the pictures).ResultsPhonological representations of unattended pictures could be detected in the posterior superior temporal gyrus, the inferior frontal gyrus, and the insula.ConclusionUnder some circumstances, the name of ignored distractor pictures is retrieved by linguistic areas. This implies that selective attention to a specific location does not completely filter out the representations of distractor stimuli at early perceptual stages.

Rapid eye movement sleep deprivation in post-critical period, adolescent rats alters the balance between inhibitory and excitatory mechanisms in visual cortex

Suppression of rapid eye movement sleep (REMS) in developing animals has both anatomical and physiological consequences. We have recently shown that initiating REMS deprivation (REMSD) prior to the end of the critical period in young rats delays termination of the critical period (CP) in visual cortex, and, consequently, the synaptic plasticity mechanisms that support a developmentally regulated form of long-term potentiation (LTP) are maintained in an immature state [J.P. Shaffery, C.M. Sinton, G. Bisset, H.P. Roffwarg, G.A. Marks, Rapid eye movement sleep deprivation modifies expression of long-term potentiation in visual cortex of immature rats, Neuroscience, 110 (2002) 431–443]. In CP animals, high-frequency, theta burst stimulation (TBS) directed at the white matter (WM) below visual cortex produces LTP in the post-synaptic cells in layer II/III (LTPWM-III). However, LTPWM-III can be induced in cortical tissue taken from REMS-deprived animals for up to a week beyond the usual end of the CP [J.P. Shaffery, C.M. Sinton, G. Bisset, H.P. Roffwarg, G.A. Marks, Rapid eye movement sleep deprivation modifies expression of long-term potentiation in visual cortex of immature rats, Neuroscience, 110 (2002) 431–443]. Further, in post-CP, adolescent animals (as late as postnatal day 60), REMSD appears to unmask synaptic plasticity mechanisms that allow for production of developmentally regulated LTPWM-III [J.P. Shaffery, J. Lopez, G. Bissette, H.P. Roffwarg, Rapid eye movement sleep deprivation revives a form of developmentally regulated synaptic plasticity in the visual cortex of post-critical period rats, Neurosci Lett., (2005), in press]. It has been proposed that REMSD's effects on production of LTPWM-III result from a reduction in efficiency of the inhibitory mechanisms thought to precipitate termination of the CP of brain development [J.P. Shaffery, J. Lopez, G. Bissette, H.P. Roffwarg, Rapid eye movement sleep deprivation revives a form of developmentally regulated synaptic plasticity in the visual cortex of post-critical period rats, Neurosci Lett., (2005), in press]. In this study we tested the hypothesis that low-frequency stimulation (LFS) of the fibers of the WM, which usually produces the related form of synaptic plasticity, long-term depression (LTD), will also reflect the reduction in inhibitory tone. We report here that LFS protocols, which in normally sleeping, adolescent rats usually produce either LTD or no change in response magnitude, in REMS-deprived, adolescent rats are more likely to produce LTP.