有序地产生有组织的行为，也称序列运动，对人们的日常生活和学习至关重要，如我们说话、书写、骑车、弹琴、打球等，其流畅的完成都基于序列运动学习。在一些功能性脑病患者中，感知和学习序列的能力出现受损，给生活带来了极大的不便，但目前对于序列运动学习的神经机制尚不清楚。本项目以序列眼动为模型，在猕猴执行任务的同时，对眼动相关脑区的神经元活动进行电生理记录，并结合微电流刺激、可逆药物失活、光遗传技术来探索特定脑区、特定细胞类型、特定的神经元回路与记忆诱导的序列眼动行为之间的功能性联系。这些研究结果不仅可以清晰地了解序列眼动这种容易观测到的外显行为的内在机制，还为研发人工智能、发展新的教育方案等实际应用提供科学依据，同时也为序列学习和执行能力减弱或丧失的病人提供更好更有效的治疗理论基础。

Sequences of information or sequences of actions are used in various everyday tasks. They range from the relatively simple and practiced, such as brushing teeth, to the more complex and infrequent such as playing piano. Deficits in sequential multistep tasks are pervasive across many neurological and psychiatric disorders, and many patients cannot function normally in daily life. Thus, a better understanding of how we perform sequences of tasks and the underlying neural circuitry would make great strides towards helping large populations of people with deficits in these functions. In addition, we would contribute to our understanding of a fundamental, yet complex, daily behavior. The saccadic eye movement provides an excellent model for investigating sequential motor learning since not only the input is highly controllable and easily specified, but also the output is highly constrained and easy to measure with high precision. We will perform behavioral and electrophysiological experiments with trained primates to search neural correlates for sequential saccade. Then we will test for direct link between neuronal activity and sequential eye movements by manipulate neural activity using micro-stimulation and reversible chemical inactivation. Cortical areas FEF, SEF and LIP will be investigated because these areas have previously been implicated in saccade planning and execution. Finally, we will try optogenetics approaches to directly observe and manipulate the neural circuitry in sequential task. This series of studies will not only extend our knowledge regarding the sequence learning, but also bridge the gap between cell-type specific analyses of individual neurons and sequence saccade. Besides, it also provides scientific basis for the practical application of artificial intelligence, development of new educational programs, clinical diagnosis and treatment technologies.