Recent data have shown that sleep plays a beneficial role for cognitive functions such as declarative memory consolidation and perceptual learning. In this article, we review recent findings on the role of sleep in promoting adaptive visual response changes in the lateral geniculate nucleus and primary visual cortex following novel visual experiences. We discuss these findings in the context of what is currently known about how sleep affects the activity and function of thalamocortical circuits and current hypotheses regarding how sleep facilitates synaptic plasticity.
Keywords: LGN; NREM; REM; TRN; V1; lateral geniculate nucleus; non-REM sleep; oscillation; primary visual cortex; rapid eye movement sleep; thalamic reticular nucleus.