Memory Formation in Motor Cortex

项目总结：运动皮质的记忆形成 记忆既能赋予我们身份，又能在我们的日常活动中提供能力。我们的运动记忆是 与我们周围的世界互动至关重要：失去灵巧性可能会特别令人衰弱 中风的后果。尽管它们很重要，但我们对大脑是如何形成和 储存了我们运动能力的记忆。这项研究项目致力于了解 初级运动皮质(M1)在运动记忆的启动和保持中起作用。因为它是有组织的 控制我们运动的神经元群体的活动，我们在如何寻找记忆的特征 神经群体在一次学习经历后改变了他们的活动。我们采用了一个强大的工具来 在运动皮质-脑机接口(BCI)中研究学习。在BCI中，用户生成 驱动外部设备移动的神经活动模式，例如 电脑屏幕。几十年的前期研究已经证明了脑-机接口作为研究工具的有效性 在运动系统中学习，在这里我们利用先前的研究来研究运动记忆。我们的 三个具体的目标涉及运动记忆的不同方面：首先，我们检查了 M1群体活动中记忆的特征和随后改善的行为表现 学习。其次，我们考察了学习新事物是如何受到对先前记忆的影响 学习体验，反过来，新的学习如何影响现有的 运动记忆。第三，我们考察了运动记忆的巩固，看看在 在一次学习体验之后的几天。我们的脑-机接口范式为探索这些问题提供了强大的优势 问题。这是因为脑-机接口直接将神经群体活动与一种行为联系起来。这是直接的 因果关系使我们有可能看到特定于和的运动记忆的外观 适合于已经学会的行为，并随着时间的推移进行跟踪。另外，因为我们使用脑-机接口 在我们的基础科学研究中，我们的发现对正在进行的努力具有直接的临床意义 改进BCI，使其能够恢复瘫痪患者灵活灵活的运动控制。

Project Summary: Memory Formation in Motor Cortex Memories both impart identity and provide competence in our daily activities. Our motor memories are crucial for interacting with the world around us: The loss of dexterity can be a particularly debilitating consequence of stroke. Despite their importance, we still know very little about how the brain forms and stores the memories of our motor abilities. This research project endeavors to understand the role of the primary motor cortex (M1) in the inception and retention of motor memories. Since it is the organized activity of populations of neurons that control our movements, we seek signatures of memories in how neural populations change their activity after a learning experience. We adopt a powerful tool for studying learning in the motor cortex – brain computer interfaces (BCIs). In a BCI, the user generates patterns of neural activity which drive the movement of an external device, such as a cursor on a computer screen. Decades of prior research have demonstrated the validity of BCIs as a tool to study learning in the motor system, and here we leverage that prior research to study motor memories. Our three Specific Aims address different aspects of motor memories: First, we examine the link between signatures of a memory in M1 population activity and improved behavioral performance following learning. Second, we examine how learning something new is influenced by the memory of a previous learning experience, and conversely, how new learning can impact the neural encoding of an existing motor memory. Third, we examine the consolidation of motor memories, to see what changes in the days after a learning experience. Our BCI paradigm offers powerful advantages for exploring these questions. This is because a BCI directly couples neural population activity to a behavior. This direct causal relationship makes it possible to see the appearance of a motor memory that is specific to and appropriate for the behavior that has been learned, and to track it over time. Also, because we use BCI systems in our basic-science studies, our findings have direct clinical relevance for the ongoing effort to improve BCIs so that they can restore dexterous and flexible motor control to individuals with paralysis.