A motor learning strategy reflects neural circuitry for limb control.

Full Abstract

During motor skill acquisition, the brain learns a mapping between intended limb motion and requisite muscular forces. We propose that regions where sensory and motor representations overlap are crucial for motor learning. In primary motor cortex, for example, cells that modulate their activity for motor actions at a joint tend to receive input from that same portion of the periphery. We predict that this correspondence reflects a default strategy--a Bayesian prior--in which subjects tend to associate loads at a joint with motion at that joint (local sensorimotor association) when there is ambiguity regarding the nature of the load. As predicted, we found that in the presence of uncertainty, humans inappropriately generalized elbow loads as though they were based on elbow velocity. Generalization improved when we reduced uncertainty by decreasing coupling between elbow velocity and load during training. These results illustrate a key link between motor learning and the underlying neural circuitry.

Author information

Author/s: Singh, Kan (K); Scott, Stephen H (SH);

Affiliation: Department of Anatomy & Cell Biology, CIHR Group in Sensory-Motor Systems, Centre for Neuroscience Studies, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario K7L 3N6, Canada.

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Journal Article; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

Journal: Nature neuroscience (Nat Neurosci), published in United States. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2003-Apr; vol 6 (issue 4) : pp 399-403

Dates: Created 2003/03/26; Completed 2003/06/10; Revised 2006/11/15;

PMID: 12627165, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 2/18/2009, IMS Date: 18 Feb 2009 00:00:00)

Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.

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