NEURAL SUBSTRATES OF LEARNING

大脑如何使人学习新行为的问题 基于奖励的反馈是神经科学中最伟大的 挑战。近几十年来的研究已经产生了相当大的 关于控制运动行为的神经回路的知识 关于参与积极感觉的大脑结构 经验，而是大脑中位置的奖赏 电路作用于电机控制电路以改变未来的行为 仍然是个谜。本项目的目的是分析 大脑的一部分连接，其中奖赏回路和 相对了解较多的马达电路汇聚以确定其 在学习新行为方面的作用。猴子被教导要表演 在两个目标之间来回移动眼睛的简单行为 在视频屏幕上发现25个可能的目标。他们会得到奖励 通过直接脑刺激来完成耗时的 找到正确的一对目标并交替他们的凝视赌注 在两个人之间。这项研究的目标是1)确定一个或 大脑中刺激充分的特定区域 奖励动物学会寻找并交替凝视 新的靶点；2)识别通过这些目标的神经通路 额叶皮质中神经细胞已知存在的区域 在学习眼球运动的过程中活跃；以及3)确定 是否使用神经化学药物直接治疗该区域 暂时扰乱其功能，阻碍眼睛的学习 移动到新的目标。1998年，一只动物被检测出 在大约10个大脑部位进行自我刺激。制造了设备，并 安装用于监测眼球运动。植入了一个眼圈 一只动物进行了初步测试，以测试一项协议 用来训练动物交替眼球运动。资助美国国立卫生研究院 格兰特RR00166。

The question of how the brain enables one to learn new behavior based on rewarding feedback is one of neuroscience's greatest challenges. Research in recent decades has produced considerable knowledge about the neurocircuitry that controls motor behavior and about brain structures that are involved in positive sensory experience, but the location of sites in the brain where reward circuits act on motor control circuits to change future behavior remains an enigma. The purpose of this project is to analyze the connections of a part of the brain where a reward circuit and a relatively well-understood motor circuit converge to determine its role in learning new behaviors. Monkeys are taught to perform the simple behavior of moving the eyes back and forth between two target spots out of 25 possible targets on a video screen. They are rewarded with direct brain stimulation for the time-consuming process of finding the correct pair of targets and alternating their gaze bet ween the two. The goals of the research are 1) to identify one or more specific areas in the brain where stimulation is sufficiently rewarding that the animal learns to find and alternate gaze between new targets; 2) to identify the nerve pathways that pass through those areas to an area in frontal cortex where nerve cells are known to be active during the learning of eye movements; and 3) to determine whether direct treatment of that area with neurochemical agents that temporarily disrupt its function prevents the learning of eye movements to new targets. In 1998 one animal was tested for self-stimulation at some 10 brain sites. Equipment was fabricated and installed for monitoring eye movements. An eye coil was implanted in one animal and preliminary testing was conducted to test a protocol for training the animal in alternating eye movements. FUNDING NIH grant RR00166.