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PubMed2001

Role of the human motor cortex in rapid motor learning.

Recent studies suggest that the human primary motor cortex (M1) is involved in motor learning, but the nature of that involvement is not clear. Here, learning-related changes in M1 excitability were studied with transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) while na subjects practiced either a ballistic or a ramp pinch task to the 0.5-Hz beat of a metronome. Subjects rapidly learned to optimize ballistic contractions as indicated by a significant increase in peak pinch acceleration and peak force after the 60-min practice epoch. The increase in force and acceleration was associated with an increase in motor evoked potential (MEP) amplitude in a muscle involved in the training (flexor policis brevis) but not in a muscle unrelated to the task (abductor digiti minimi). MEPs returned to their baseline amplitude after subjects had acquired the new skill, whereas no practice-induced changes in MEP amplitude were observed after subjects had overlearned the task, or after practicing slow ramp pinches. Since the changes in MEP amplitude were observed only after TMS of M1 but not after direct stimulation of the corticospinal tract, these findings indicate task- and effector-specific involvement of human M1 in rapid motor learning.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1996

Rapid visual learning in neurones of the primate temporal visual cortex.

The human visual system can learn to recognize visual stimuli rapidly. For example, humans can accurately reconstruct meaningful objects out of fragmentary evidence, once they have seen the same object in its unambiguous form. The anterior temporal cortical areas of macaques contain some neurones with invariant visual responses which appear to provide a representation of complex patterns and objects, such as faces. Remarkably, these neurones show an enhancement of response after brief (e.g. 5 s) exposure to the unambiguous stimulus, an effect that appears to reflect the neural basis of the rapid perceptual learning seen in humans.

Animals↗
PubMed2025

Learning neural dynamics through instructive signals.

Rapid learning is essential for flexible behavior, but its basis in the brain remains unknown. Here we introduce the PRISM plasticity rule, a unifying mechanistic model of three well-established, fast-acting synaptic plasticity rules-in hippocampus, cerebellum and mushroom body-which relies exclusively on pre-synaptic activity and an "instructive signal" from another brain area. Using a multi-region network model we show that guiding PRISM plasticity with instructive signals enables the network to quickly learn extremely flexible nonlinear dynamics underlying behaviorally relevant computations, as well as to emulate unknown external system dynamics from real-time error signals, which we demonstrate with comprehensive simulations supported by exact mathematical theory. Thus, PRISM plasticity guided by instructive signals is well-suited to rapidly learn general-purpose neural computations-in contrast to canonical Hebbian rules. Finally, we show how including this plasticity rule in artificial learning algorithms can solve long-range temporal credit assignment, a long-standing challenge in machine learning.

cerebellum↗
PubMed2002

Effect of levetiracetam on rapid motor learning in humans.

BACKGROUND: The human motor cortex (M1) has a role in motor learning. Antiepileptic drugs that suppress M1 excitability may affect learning, presumably by inhibiting long-term potentiation. Levetiracetam, a new antiepileptic drug with a unique preclinical profile, also suppresses M1 excitability, but in a way that is different from other antiepileptic drugs. The effect of levetiracetam on motor learning has yet to be addressed. OBJECTIVE: To investigate whether levetiracetam alters rapid motor learning in humans. METHODS: We measured pinch force and acceleration and motor excitability before and after 30 minutes of pinch practice at 0.5 Hz in 10 healthy volunteers. Either 3000 mg of levetiracetam or placebo was administered 1 hour before the experiment. RESULTS: After practice, pinch acceleration was significantly increased with placebo, but not with levetiracetam. All other measures showed no significant change. CONCLUSION: Levetiracetam interferes with rapid motor learning; this is consistent with a negative influence on long-term potentiation.

Adult↗
PubMed1996

A neural model for generating and learning a rapid movement sequence.

In this article, a neural model for generating and learning a rapid ballistic movement sequence in two-dimensional (2D) space is presented and evaluated in the light of some considerations about handwriting generation. The model is based on a central nucleus (called a planning space) consisting of a fully connected grid of leaky integrators simulating neurons, and reading an input vector [symbol: see text] (t) which represents the external movement of the end effector. The movement sequencing results in a succession of motor strokes whose instantiation is controlled by the global activation of the planning space as defined by a competitive interaction between the neurons of the grid. Constraints such as spatial accuracy and movement time are exploited for the correct synchronization of the impulse commands. These commands are then fed into a neuromuscular synergy whose output is governed by a delta lognormal equation. Each movement sequence is memorized originally as a symbolic engram representing the sequence of the principal reference points of the 2D movement. These points, called virtual targets, correspond to the targets of each single rapid motor stroke composing the movement sequence. The task during the learning phase is to detect the engram corresponding to a new observed movement; the process is controlled by the dynamics of the neural grid.

Computer Simulation↗
PubMed2003

Rapid motor learning in the translational vestibulo-ocular reflex.

Motor learning was induced in the translational vestibulo-ocular reflex (TVOR) when monkeys were repeatedly subjected to a brief (0.5 sec) head translation while they tried to maintain binocular fixation on a visual target for juice rewards. If the target was world-fixed, the initial eye speed of the TVOR gradually increased; if the target was head-fixed, the initial eye speed of the TVOR gradually decreased. The rate of learning acquisition was very rapid, with a time constant of approximately 100 trials, which was equivalent to <1 min of accumulated stimulation. These learned changes were consolidated over >or=1 d without any reinforcement, indicating induction of long-term synaptic plasticity. Although the learning generalized to targets with different viewing distances and to head translations with different accelerations, it was highly specific for the particular combination of head motion and evoked eye movement associated with the training. For example, it was specific to the modality of the stimulus (translation vs rotation) and the direction of the evoked eye movement in the training. Furthermore, when one eye was aligned with the heading direction so that it remained motionless during training, learning was not expressed in this eye, but only in the other nonaligned eye. These specificities show that the learning sites are neither in the sensory nor the motor limb of the reflex but in the sensory-motor transformation stage of the reflex. The dependence of the learning on both head motion and evoked eye movement suggests that Hebbian learning may be one of the underlying cellular mechanisms.

Animals↗
PubMed2004

Cortical activity reductions during repetition priming can result from rapid response learning.

Recent observation of objects speeds up their subsequent identification and classification. This common form of learning, known as repetition priming, can operate in the absence of explicit memory for earlier experiences, and functional neuroimaging has shown that object classification improved in this way is accompanied by 'neural priming' (reduced neural activity) in prefrontal, fusiform and other cortical regions. These observations have led to suggestions that cortical representations of items undergo 'tuning', whereby neurons encoding irrelevant information respond less as a given object is observed repeatedly, thereby facilitating future availability of pertinent object knowledge. Here we provide experimental support for an alternative hypothesis, in which reduced cortical activity occurs because subjects rapidly learn their previous responses. After a primed object classification (such as 'bigger than a shoebox'), cue reversal ('smaller than a shoebox') greatly slowed performance and completely eliminated neural priming in fusiform cortex, which suggests that these cortical item representations were no more available for primed objects than they were for new objects. In contrast, prefrontal cortex activity tracked behavioural priming and predicted the degree to which cue reversal would slow down object classification--highlighting the role of the prefrontal cortex in executive control.

Adolescent↗
PubMedDate not supplied

The effects of development of a food-related operant reflex on the receptor binding of glutamate in the rat brain.

Receptor binding of glutamate was studied in the striatum, hippocampus, and cerebral cortex of rats with different abilities to acquire an operant food-related reflex in a Skinner box. The striatum of rapidly-learning rats and rats unable to learn showed significantly higher levels of glutamate binding than controls were not trained in the Skinner box (p < 0.05). Striatal receptor binding of glutamate in slow-learning rats was lower than that in rapidly-learning rats and rats which were unable to learn (p < 0.05). In the hippocampus, all groups of rats (rapidly-learning, slow-learning, and those unable to learn) showed increased receptor binding of glutamate as compared with controls (p < 0.05), in the cerebral cortex, there was a significant decrease in glutamate binding as compared with controls in all groups of animals subjected to training (p < 0.05).

Animals↗
PubMed2006

Changes in auditory cortex parallel rapid perceptual learning.

Learning perceptual skills is characterized by rapid improvements in performance within the first hour of training (fast perceptual learning) followed by more gradual improvements that take place over several daily practice sessions (slow perceptual learning). Although it is widely accepted that slow perceptual learning is accompanied by enhanced stimulus representation in sensory cortices, there is considerable controversy about the neural substrates underlying early and rapid improvements in learning perceptual skills. Here we measured event-related brain potentials while listeners were presented with 2 phonetically different vowels. Listeners' ability to identify both vowels improved gradually during the first hour of testing and was paralleled by enhancements in an early evoked response ( approximately 130 ms) localized in the right auditory cortex and a late evoked response ( approximately 340 ms) localized in the right anterior superior temporal gyrus and/or inferior prefrontal cortex. These neuroplastic changes depended on listeners' attention and were preserved only if practice was continued; familiarity with the task structure (procedural learning) was not sufficient. We propose that the early increases in cortical responsiveness reflect goal-directed changes in the tuning properties of auditory neurons involved in parsing concurrent speech signals. Importantly, the neuroplastic changes occurred rapidly, demonstrating the flexibility of human speech segregation mechanisms.

Acoustic Stimulation↗
PubMed2006

Frontal-temporal disconnection abolishes object discrimination learning set in macaque monkeys.

Two previous studies have shown that frontal-temporal disconnection in monkeys, produced by unilateral ablation of frontal cortex in one hemisphere and of visual inferior temporal cortex in the opposite hemisphere is entirely without effect on visual object-reward association learning in concurrent discrimination tasks. This is a surprising finding in light of the severe impairments that follow frontal-temporal disconnection in many other tests of visual learning and memory, including delayed matching-to-sample and several conditional learning tasks. To explore the limits of this preserved object-reward association learning, we trained monkeys on visual object discrimination learning set (DLS) prior to frontal-temporal disconnection. As a result of training with single object-reward associations, the monkeys acquired a proficient learning set, evidenced by the rapid learning of new single object-reward association problems. This rapid learning was not affected by unilateral ablations of either inferior temporal cortex alone or frontal cortex alone but was severely impaired after final surgery to complete the disconnection. Moreover, each individual monkey now learned single object-reward association problems at the slow rate at which that individual had learned such problems before the formation of learning set. This result shows that frontal-temporal disconnection abolishes visual learning set.

Animals↗
PubMed2005

Phonological recoding and rapid orthographic learning in third-graders' silent reading: a critical test of the self-teaching hypothesis.

This study examined rapid orthographic learning following silent reading in third-grade children as a function of number of target nonword repetitions and test delay. In each of two test sessions at least 6 days apart, children read a series of short stories, with each story containing a different nonword repeated either four or eight times. In the second session, after the stories had been read, children were asked to read short lists of target nonwords or homophonic alternatives. Children read target nonwords faster than homophones, indicating that they had formed functional orthographic representations of the target nonwords through phonologically recoding them during silent story reading. They also preferred target nonwords to homophones in an orthographic choice task in which the alternatives included the target, the homophone, and a visually similar foil, although here orthographic learning was stronger for items encountered eight times within stories and stronger for items tested immediately. These findings provide critical evidence in support of Share's self-teaching through phonological recoding hypothesis.

Child↗
PubMed1988

GABAergic modulation of memory with regard to passive avoidance and conditioned suppression task in mice.

The role of GABAergic neuronal system in learning and memory was investigated using the step-down typed passive avoidance and rapidly learned conditioned suppression tasks in mice. GABA antagonists, picrotoxin and bicuculline, or a GABA synthesis inhibitor, 3-mercaptopropionic acid (3-MP), were administered just after the training test. All of these drugs caused amnesia: they shortened the step-down latency (SDL) and attenuated the conditioned suppression of motility in the retention test conducted 24 h after the administration. Furthermore, we investigated the effect of GABA receptor agonists, muscimol and baclofen, or a GABA transaminase inhibitor, aminooxyacetic acid (AOAA), on these amnesia models. GABA agonists showed an antiamnesic action as follows: in the passive avoidance task, 1) picrotoxin-induced amnesia was antagonized by muscimol, baclofen and AOAA. 2) Bicuculline-induced amnesia was antagonized by muscimol and AOAA but not by baclofen. 3) 3-MP-induced amnesia was antagonized only by muscimol. 4) In the rapidly learned conditioned suppression task, picrotoxin-, bicuculline- and 3-MP-induced amnesia were antagonized by muscimol, baclofen and AOAA. These results suggest that the GABAergic neuronal system plays an important role in the memory retention of passive avoidance and rapidly learned conditioned suppression tasks.

4-Aminobutyrate Transaminase↗
PubMedDate not supplied

[Analysis of hippocampal RNA in rats with genetically determined differences in their ability to learn].

Selection for twelve generations, by the speed of elaboration of a food-procuring motor conditioned reflex, produced an increased intensity of the synthesis of n and c fractions of the hippocampal RNA in rapidly learning animals as compared with those slowly learning. Electrophoretic analysis of the two fractions revealed similar series of RNA classes in the initial and the learning animals' groups. With high molecular RNA classes, insertion of the radioactive precursor was higher in the rapidly learning animals than in the slow learning ones. The learning process was attended with an increased insertion of the radioactive precursor in the area of high molecular n-RNA classes and in the area of 18S-4S RNA c-RNA. The percentage of radioactivity inserted in the poly-A RNA, as well as a change due to learning were significantly higher in the rapidly learning animals.

Animals↗
PubMedDate not supplied

[Features of the c-Fos gene expression along the hippocampal rostro-caudal axis in common voles after rapid spatial learning].

The levels of the Fos protein expression in neurons was used as an index of transcription activation in the hippocampus of common voles (Microtus arvalis Pall.) after their rapid spatial learning. Fos-positive cells were stained and calculated in 20 brain sections along hippocampal rostro-caudal axis. Voles (learning group) were trained in a modified 8-arm radial maze to find the entry to the home cage through a target arm (6 trials per session, 2-hour session). The animals were pretrained to enter the home cage through an arm isolated from the maze. Animals of active control group continued entering the home cage through the isolated arm, and animals of the passive control group were taken for the Fos immunohistochemistry from the home cage. Both in the learning group and active control group, a significant increase in c-Fos expression was shown in all the examined areas (CA1, CA3 and the dentate gyrus) as compared to the passive control. A significant increase in the number of c-Fos positive neurons was observed in the caudal hippocampus of the learning animals as compared to the active control, however, no differences were found in the rostral part. The maximum effects were observed in the dentate gyrus and the CA3 field. The results suggest a functional rostro-caudal inhomogeneity of the vole's hippocampus in the spatial learning task.

Animals↗
PubMed2000

Rapid visual learning in the rat: effects at the 5-HT1a receptor subtype.

The 5-hydroxytryptamine1a (5-HT1a) receptor agonist 8-hydroxy-2-(di-n-propylamino) tetralin (8-OH-DPAT; 0.15 mg/kg) impaired rats' rapid visual learning on a computerized maze. This treatment also increased decision time (DT) but the learning impairment was not necessarily a side-effect of slower responding because, in this task, responses made at long DT are more accurate than those at short DT. The selective 5-HT1a receptor antagonist WAY-100635 (0.3 mg/kg) was itself without effect on accuracy, but was effective in reversing effects of 8-OH-DPAT (on both accuracy and DT). Within problems (i.e., over the 40-60 trials of a single discrimination), performance was reduced by treatment with 8-OH-DPAT at all stages of learning. We conclude that this effect is mediated through the 5-HT1a receptor site (rather than through some other serotonergic receptor site or non-specific mechanism) as it was reversible by treatment with WAY-100635. Although it could still arise from behaviourally non-specific effects, the performance deficit finds its best account in terms of the psychological processes necessary to visual learning. Its reversal with WAY-100635 offers support to the hypothesis that 5-HT1a receptor antagonists could improve cognitive function, under conditions of pre-existing impairment due to overactive serotonergic inhibition, as is thought to occur in Alzheimer's disease.

Analysis of Variance↗
PubMed2006

Learning about occlusion: initial assumptions and rapid adjustments.

We examined 6-month-olds abilities to represent occluded objects, using a corneal-reflection eye-tracking technique. Experiment 1 compared infants' ability to extrapolate the current pre-occlusion trajectory with their ability to base predictions on recent experiences of novel object motions. In the first condition infants performed at asymptote ( approximately 2/3 accurate predictions) from the first occlusion passage. In the second condition all infants initially failed to make accurate prediction. Performance, however, reached asymptote after two occlusion passages. This is the first study that demonstrates such rapid learning effects during an occlusion task. Experiment 2 replicates these effects and demonstrates a robust memory effect extending 24h. In occlusion tasks such long-term memory effects have previously only been observed in 14-month-olds (Moore & Meltzoff, 2004).

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed2003

Neural correlates of rapid reversal learning in a simple model of human social interaction.

Humans and other primates spend much of their time engaged in social interactions where a crucial ability is to decode face expressions and act accordingly. This rapid reversal learning has been proposed to be important in the relative evolutionary success of primates. Here we provide the first neuroimaging evidence that the ability to change behaviour based on face expression in a model of social interactions is not reflected in the activity in the fusiform face area, but is specifically correlated with activity in the orbitofrontal and anterior cingulate/paracingulate cortices. These brain regions are particularly involved in reversal learning, such that the activations described occurred specifically at the time of reversal, and were also found when different face expressions other than angry were used to cue reversal. The evidence that the orbitofrontal and anterior cingulate/paracingulate cortices are specifically activated at the time of reversal is important for understanding changes in affect and emotional processing in patients with lesions to these brain regions.

Adult↗
PubMed1998

Neurons in human temporal cortex active with verbal associative learning.

In neuronal activity recorded from human middle temporal gyrus during learning of associations between word pairs, a population was identified that had greater activity for associations that were learned rapidly during initial encoding compared to those learned slowly or not at all by an individual subject. This population can be separated from other neurons by the combination of inhibition during word reading when no learning is required and excitation during recent memory for words. These neurons are present in both hemispheres, predominately in deeper layers of cortex. During initial encoding, the increased activity appears at presentation of all word pairs but persists for several seconds only for the rapidly learned pairs, likely reflecting rehersal of items being learned. Human associative learning is related to activity of this specific population of "association" neurons, identified here for the first time.

Adult↗