Valproate reopens critical-period learning of absolute pitch

Absolute pitch, the ability to identify or produce the pitch of a sound without a reference point, has a critical period, i.e., it can only be acquired early in life. However, research has shown that histone-deacetylase inhibitors (HDAC inhibitors) enable adult mice to establish perceptual preferenc...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Frontiers in systems neuroscience 2013-01, Vol.7, p.102-102
Main Authors: Gervain, Judit, Vines, Bradley W, Chen, Lawrence M, Seo, Rubo J, Hensch, Takao K, Werker, Janet F, Young, Allan H
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
absolute pitch
critical period reopening
histone-deacetylase inhibitors
human adults
Learning
Neuroscience
valproate
Citations: Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Absolute pitch, the ability to identify or produce the pitch of a sound without a reference point, has a critical period, i.e., it can only be acquired early in life. However, research has shown that histone-deacetylase inhibitors (HDAC inhibitors) enable adult mice to establish perceptual preferences that are otherwise impossible to acquire after youth. In humans, we found that adult men who took valproate (VPA) (a HDAC inhibitor) learned to identify pitch significantly better than those taking placebo-evidence that VPA facilitated critical-period learning in the adult human brain. Importantly, this result was not due to a general change in cognitive function, but rather a specific effect on a sensory task associated with a critical-period.
ISSN:1662-5137
1662-5137
DOI:10.3389/fnsys.2013.00102