Perceptual learning in the rodent system is commonly investigated using the visual system. This review focuses on the somatosensory system with an emphasis on tactile learning using the whiskers.

The review details the results of some recent behavioural experiments investigating the effects of experience with tactile stimuli on later discrimination learning. It later highlights the potential locus of this experience-dependent plasticity within the rodent somatosensory system.

Nicole Pacchiarini, SWBio DTP student

Review paper: Perceptual learning with tactile stimuli in rodents: Shaping the somatosensory system by N. Pacchiarini, K. Fox, R. C. Honey, in the Journal of Learning & Behaviour