Observing action sequences elicits sequence-specific neural representations in frontoparietal brain regions
Observing action sequences elicits sequence-specific neural representations in frontoparietal brain regions
复制标题
观察动作序列会引发额顶脑区域的序列特异性神经表征
DOI：
10.1101/356253
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发表时间：
2018
期刊：
影响因子：
--
通讯作者：
Apšvalka D
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Apšvalka D
通过观察他人来学习新技能对于整个一生的社交和运动发展非常重要。先前的研究表明，观察学习与身体练习在认知和大脑层面上有共同的基础。此外，神经影像学研究已经使用多变量分析技术来理解各个领域的神经表征，包括视觉、听觉、记忆和动作，但很少有研究调查表征空间中的神经可塑性。因此，尽管可以通过观察他人的行为来学习运动序列，但神经科学中一个很大程度上尚未解答的问题是经验如何塑造神经系统的表征空间。在这里，针对男性和女性参与者的样本，我们将训练前和训练后的功能磁共振成像课程与 6 天的观察实践相结合，以确定对动作序列的观察是否会在人类额顶叶大脑区域引发序列特异性表征，以及这些表征在观察实践中变得更加清晰的程度。我们的结果表明，观察到的动作序列是通过额顶皮层的不同活动模式来建模的，并且这种表示在很大程度上可以推广到非常相似但未经训练的序列。这些发现增进了我们对观察学习期间建模内容（序列特定信息）以及建模方式的理解（额顶皮层的重组与之前在身体练习后显示的重组类似）。因此，在比之前证明的更细粒度的神经水平上，我们的研究结果揭示了额顶叶皮层的表征结构如何将视觉信息映射到运动回路上，以增强运动表现。意义陈述通过观察他人来学习是专业知识和熟练行为发展的基石。然而，目前尚不清楚视觉信号如何映射到运动回路以实现这种学习的发生。在这里，我们表明观察到的动作序列是通过额顶皮层的不同活动模式来建模的，并且这种表示在很大程度上可以推广到非常相似但未经训练的序列。这些发现增进了我们对观察学习期间建模内容（序列特定信息）以及建模方式的理解（额顶皮层的重组与之前在身体练习后显示的重组类似）。更一般地说，这些发现表明运动回路参与动作序列的感知如何显示出对先前工作的高度保真度，之前的工作重点关注动作序列的身体表现。
Learning new skills by watching others is important for social and motor development throughout the lifespan. Prior research has suggested that observational learning shares common substrates with physical practice at both cognitive and brain levels. In addition, neuroimaging studies have used multivariate analysis techniques to understand neural representations in a variety of domains, including vision, audition, memory, and action, but few studies have investigated neural plasticity in representational space. Therefore, although movement sequences can be learned by observing other people's actions, a largely unanswered question in neuroscience is how experience shapes the representational space of neural systems. Here, across a sample of male and female participants, we combined pretraining and posttraining fMRI sessions with 6 d of observational practice to determine whether the observation of action sequences elicits sequence-specific representations in human frontoparietal brain regions and the extent to which these representations become more distinct with observational practice. Our results showed that observed action sequences are modeled by distinct patterns of activity in frontoparietal cortex and that such representations largely generalize to very similar, but untrained, sequences. These findings advance our understanding of what is modeled during observational learning (sequence-specific information), as well as how it is modeled (reorganization of frontoparietal cortex is similar to that previously shown following physical practice). Therefore, on a more fine-grained neural level than demonstrated previously, our findings reveal how the representational structure of frontoparietal cortex maps visual information onto motor circuits in order to enhance motor performance.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENTLearning by watching others is a cornerstone in the development of expertise and skilled behavior. However, it remains unclear how visual signals are mapped onto motor circuits for such learning to occur. Here, we show that observed action sequences are modeled by distinct patterns of activity in frontoparietal cortex and that such representations largely generalize to very similar, but untrained, sequences. These findings advance our understanding of what is modeled during observational learning (sequence-specific information), as well as how it is modeled (reorganization of frontoparietal cortex is similar to that previously shown following physical practice). More generally, these findings demonstrate how motor circuit involvement in the perception of action sequences shows high fidelity to prior work, which focused on physical performance of action sequences.