Implicit learning of Stimulus structures: Is it possible to acquire implicit music-syntactic knowledge just by listening to music?

In der experimentellen Literatur zum impliziten Lernen ist es strittig, ob es außer einem impliziten Lernen von Reaktionsfolgen auch eines von Reizstrukturen gibt. Die zu dieser Frage relevante Literatur wird gesichtet, um die Frage zu beantworten, ob die Ergebnisse dieser Untersuchungen eine Übertragung auf den Erwerb eines impliziten musikalisch-syntaktischen Wissens alleine durch Hören von Musik zulassen. Neueste Untersuchungen, die implizites Lernen von Reizstrukturen nachweisen, enthalten auch Hinweise darauf, dass implizites Wissen über Reizstrukturen eine Funktion für mehrere Aspekte der Steuerung der Aufmerksamkeit besitzt. Diese Befunde lassen sich im Rahmen der Theorie dynamischer Ereignismodelle und ihrer Funktion für die Top-Down-Steuerung der Aufmerksamkeit (W. Prinz) integrieren. Dieser theoretische Ansatz wird auf den Erwerb eines impliziten musikalisch-syntaktischen Wissens durch Musikhören übertragen und auf die Beschreibung der Funktionen dieses Wissens für die Steuerung der Aufmerksamkeit beim Hören von Musik angewendet. (DIPF/Orig.)There is a dispute in the experimental literature on implicit learning whether there is evidence of Stimulus learning in addition to the well established response learning. We review the relevant literature in order to answer the question whether the results of this research can be generalized to the acquisition of an implicit music-syntactic knowledge just by listening to music. New research that provides evidence of implicit stimulus learning also points to the fact that there is a functional relationship between implicit knowledge of a Stimulus structure and the top-down control of attention allocation. These results can be integrated into the theory of dynamic internal models (Prinz, 1989, 1990) and their function in the control of attention allocation; in addition they can be employed to describe implicit learning of music-syntactic knowledge and its function in the control of attention while listening to music. (DIPF/Orig.

Crossed entorhino-dentate projections form and terminate with correct layer-specificity in organotypic slice cultures of the mouse hippocampus

The entorhino-dentate projection, i.e., the perforant pathway, terminates in a highly ordered and laminated fashion in the rodent dentate gyrus (DG): fibers arising from the medial entorhinal cortex (MEC) terminate in the middle molecular layer, whereas fibers arising from the lateral entorhinal cortex (LEC) terminate in the outer molecular layer of the DG. In rats and rabbits, a crossed entorhino-dentate projection exists, which originates from the entorhinal cortex (EC) and terminates in the contralateral DG. In contrast, in mice, such a crossed projection is reportedly absent. Using single and double mouse organotypic entorhino-hippocampal slice cultures, we studied the ipsi- and crossed entorhino-dentate projections. Viral tracing revealed that entorhino-dentate projections terminate with a high degree of lamina-specificity in single as well as in double cultures. Furthermore, in double cultures, entorhinal axons arising from one slice freely intermingled with entorhinal axons originating from the other slice. In single as well as in double cultures, entorhinal axons exhibited a correct topographical projection to the DG: medial entorhinal axons terminated in the middle and lateral entorhinal axons terminated in the outer molecular layer. Finally, entorhinal neurons were virally transduced with Channelrhodopsin2-YFP and stimulated with light, revealing functional connections between the EC and dentate granule cells. We conclude from our findings that entorhino-dentate projections form bilaterally in the mouse hippocampus in vitro and that the mouse DG provides a permissive environment for crossed entorhinal fibers