Sensory experience and perceptual learning alter receptive field properties of cortical pyramidal neurons, possibly mediated by long-term potentiation (LTP) of synapses. I will highlight work showing in mice that higher-order (HO) thalamic feedback to the somatosensory cortex (S1) is an important facilitator of sensory- evoked synaptic plasticity in L2/3 pyramidal neurons (PNs). HO thalamic feedback gates plasticity by promoting non- linear dendritic responses, and through interactions with a VIP-interneuron disinhibitory microcircuit motif. Its input increases upon partial sensory deprivation, and might be implicated in dynamic sensory stimulus representations in a perceptual learning paradigm. To start characterizing a possible relationship between higher-order feedback and cortical plasticity during perceptual learning, we monitor the activity of HO thalamic axons, VIP interneurons and L2/3 PNs in S1 during reward-based texture discrimination. By tracking activity patterns before and after changing reward contingencies, we find that stimulus selectivity of HO thalamic axons, L2/3 PNs and VIP interneurons is dynamic and largely relies on behavioral contingencies. A subpopulation of the neurons forecast the onset of learning by displaying a distinct and transient increase in activity, depending on past behavioral experience.