Corticostriatal contributions to motor exploration and reinforcement

项目摘要 复杂的运动序列是许多高技能行为的基础，从体育到音乐 和声音表达。学习这种复杂的动作需要运动的可变性，以促进探索 重要的是强化学习，和运动的灵活性，使适应性修改的行为， 对强化信号的反应对相对简单的技能学习的研究，如压杠杆或舔， 强调运动皮层和纹状体之间的相互作用是探索和 加固.然而，皮质纹状体回路如何促进复杂的运动探索和强化， 言语等行为仍然未知。该提案的目标是监控和操纵 皮质纹状体回路的活动，致力于学习复杂的声音行为。整合这些 电路研究与预测计算模型和新的方法的声乐分析将使我们能够 为了检验皮质纹状体回路提供了定向变异的来源， 系统地探索高维声乐“空间”。具体目标是：1）使用高- 分辨率成像方法，以确定皮层和纹状体发声相关活动的变化 2）使用靶向小神经元的细胞类型特异性光遗传学扰动; 合奏，以确定如何皮质和纹状体神经元活动有助于发声的变化;和3）使用 闭环方法来确定强化信号如何调节皮质纹状体整体活动， 这些活动的变化会影响声音的表现。总的来说，拟议的实验将有助于实现我们的目标。 长期目标是因果测试皮质纹状体回路如何有助于运动探索和强化 需要学习复杂的技能。

Project Summary Complex motor sequences are fundamental to many highly skilled behaviors, ranging from athletics to musical and vocal expression. Learning such complex movements requires both motor variability, to facilitate exploration important to reinforcement learning, and motor flexibility, to enable the adaptive modification of behavior in response to reinforcement signals. Studies of relatively simple skill learning, such as lever pressing or licking, emphasize that interactions between the motor cortex and the striatum are central to both exploration and reinforcement. However, how corticostriatal circuits facilitate motor exploration and reinforcement of complex behaviors such as speech remains unknown. The goal of this proposal is to monitor and manipulate the activity of corticostriatal circuits dedicated to learning complex vocal behaviors. Integrating these circuit studies with predictive computational models and novel methods of vocal analysis will allow us to test the hypothesis that corticostriatal circuits provide a source of directed variability that enables the systematic exploration of high-dimensional vocal “space.” The Specific Aims are to: 1) Use high- resolution imaging methods to determine how variability in the vocalization-related activity of cortical and striatal neurons relates to vocal variability; 2) Use cell-type specific optogenetic perturbations targeted to small neural ensembles to determine how cortical and striatal neuron activity contributes to vocal variability; and 3) Use closed-loop methods to determine how reinforcement signals modulate corticostriatal ensemble activity and how these changes in activity affect vocal performance. Collectively, the proposed experiments will help achieve our long term goal of causally testing how corticostriatal circuits contribute to motor exploration and reinforcement needed to learn complex skills.