from Dezso NEMETH
The MEMO Team (CRNL) cordially invites you to the following ZOOM talk:
Zoom link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87688391001
Date and time: 17.00-18.00, May 2, Tuesday
Sebastian Frank, University of Regensburg
Inhibitory processing involved in visual learning in children
Abstract: The brain undergoes fundamental changes over the life span, with the most dramatic changes occurring during infancy and childhood. However, whether these changes also impact on mechanisms of learning have remained uncertain. Although it is often assumed that children learn more efficiently than adults, it is unclear, if it is true, which mechanisms contribute to such greater learning efficiency in children. We examined visual learning in elementary school age children and adults using functional magnetic resonance spectroscopy to measure inhibitory, GABAergic processing during and after visual learning in vivo. We found that visual learning triggered an increase of GABA only in children that persisted for several minutes after training ended. This novel finding predicted that training on new items rapidly increases the concentration of GABA in children and allows the learning to be rapidly stabilized. In subsequent behavioral experiments, we found that children indeed stabilized new visual learning much more rapidly than adults, which agrees with the common belief that children outperform adults in their learning abilities. Our results therefore point to GABA as a key player involved in efficient learning in children.
