Identifying novel memory traces that improve action precision

我们是如何记住一个足够长的电话号码来拨打它，或者记住两个足够长的数字来在我们的脑海中把它们相加的？这种类型的记忆被称为短期工作记忆，是一种认知存储，它允许在短时间内回忆起一些项目并采取行动。早期对工作记忆的研究表明，我们通常能记住5到9个不相关的东西。最近的研究表明，真正的能力只有3-4个不同的项目。在视觉、听觉和触觉系统中发现了一种更短但更生动的短期记忆形式——感觉记忆。例如，视觉感觉记忆的非凡之处在于，它可以提供最近视觉场景中64个或更多项目的令人难以置信的详细信息，其容量远远大于工作记忆。目前的工作将研究一种以前未被识别的本体感觉记忆（本体感觉是指关于身体的位置和运动的信息）。与视觉感觉记忆一样，本体感觉记忆提供了一种高精度但短时的感觉信息和最近运动动作的信息存储。假设这两种类型的记忆，当可用时，提供高精度的输入到涉及行动计划的感觉运动神经回路，允许极高水平的运动精度。本建议的目标是发展对新型高精度本体感觉和运动命令记忆的可用性与运动精度改进的时空特性之间关系的理解。该团队将首先通过确定这种新记忆的可用性与改进的动作精度之间的联系来确定本体感觉的高精度感觉记忆的存在。然后，他们将描述这种记忆所能提供的时间尺度变异性快速减少的程度和时间过程。最后，研究将基于空间和时间特性，利用几何表征和直接实验操作，划分出两种新的高精度超瞬态记忆，本体感觉记忆和运动命令记忆。计划中的工作将建立一个框架，以了解最近的感觉和运动记忆如何单独或联合工作，以提高自主运动期间的运动精度。本项目为本科生到博士后水平的受训者提供了一个丰富的研究训练机会，将计算和工程原理和工具应用于神经回路中的学习和记忆研究，并向社区初中和高中学生介绍学习和记忆如何塑造人类精确控制行动的能力。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

How do we remember a phone number long enough to dial it or remember two numbers long enough to add them together in our head? This type of memory, called short-term working memory, is a cognitive store that allows a few items to be recalled and acted upon within a short span of time. Early studies of working memory suggested that we can typically remember about 5 to 9 unrelated items. More recent work suggests a true capacity of just 3-4 distinct items. A briefer but far more vivid form of short-term memory, called sensory memory, has been identified in the visual, auditory, and tactile systems. Visual sensory memory, for example, is remarkable in that it can provide incredibly detailed information about 64 or more items in recent visual scenes, a far greater capacity than shown for working memory. The present work will study a previously unidentified proprioceptive sensory memory (proprioception refers to information about the position and movement of the body). Like visual sensory memory, proprioceptive sensory memory provides a high-precision but short-lasting store for sensory information and for information about recent motor actions. The hypothesis is that both type of memories, when available, provide high-precision input into the sensorimotor neural circuitry involved in action planning, allowing for extremely high levels of motor precision.The goals of this proposal are to develop an understanding of the relationship between the availability of novel high-precision proprioceptive and motor command memories and the spatiotemporal properties of improvements in motor precision. The team will begin by identifying the existence of a high-precision sensory memory for proprioception by determining the link between the availability of this novel memory and improved action precision. They will then characterize the extent and time course of the rapid reduction in time scale variability that this memory can provide. Finally, the research will parcel out two novel high-precision hyper-transient memories, proprioceptive sensory memory and motor command memory, based on both spatial and temporal properties, using geometric characterization and direct experimental manipulation. The planned work will develop a framework for understanding how recent sensory and motor memories can work both separately and in combination to improve motor precision during voluntary movement. This project provides a fertile research training opportunity to apply computational and engineering principles and tools to the study of learning and memory in neural circuits for trainees ranging from the undergraduate to the postdoctoral level, and introduces community middle school and high school students to how learning and memory shape the ability to precisely control actions in humans.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.