Improved Discriminability of Spatiotemporal Neural Patterns in Rat Motor Cortical Areas as Directional Choice Learning Progresses

Animals learn to choose a proper action among alternatives to improve their odds of success in food foraging and other activities critical for survival. Through trial-and-error, they learn correct associations between their choices and external stimuli. While a neural network that underlies such lea...

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Main Authors: Hongwei eMao, Yuan eYuan, Jennie eSi
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Frontiers Media S.A. 2015-03-01
Series:Frontiers in Systems Neuroscience
Subjects:
Online Access:http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fnsys.2015.00028/full
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spelling doaj-210866c2f2dd4ac583d8b6e8ebac90452020-11-24T22:12:36ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Systems Neuroscience1662-51372015-03-01910.3389/fnsys.2015.00028122346Improved Discriminability of Spatiotemporal Neural Patterns in Rat Motor Cortical Areas as Directional Choice Learning ProgressesHongwei eMao0Yuan eYuan1Jennie eSi2Arizona State UniversityArizona State UniversityArizona State UniversityAnimals learn to choose a proper action among alternatives to improve their odds of success in food foraging and other activities critical for survival. Through trial-and-error, they learn correct associations between their choices and external stimuli. While a neural network that underlies such learning process has been identified at a high level, it is still unclear how individual neurons and a neural ensemble adapt as learning progresses. In this study, we monitored the activity of single units in the rat medial and lateral agranular (AGm and AGl, respectively) areas as rats learned to make a left or right side lever press in response to a left or right side light cue. We noticed that rat movement parameters during the performance of the directional choice task quickly became stereotyped during the first 2-3 days or sessions. But learning the directional choice problem took weeks to occur. Accompanying rats’ behavioral performance adaptation, we observed neural modulation by directional choice in recorded single units. Our analysis shows that ensemble mean firing rates in the cue-on period did not change significantly as learning progressed, and the ensemble mean rate difference between left and right side choices did not show a clear trend of change either. However, the spatiotemporal firing patterns of the neural ensemble exhibited improved discriminability between the two directional choices through learning. These results suggest a spatiotemporal neural coding scheme in a motor cortical neural ensemble that may be responsible for and contributing to learning the directional choice task.http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fnsys.2015.00028/fullplasticityassociative learningaction selectionSupport Vector Machinesagranular medial and lateral areas
collection DOAJ
language English
format Article
sources DOAJ
author Hongwei eMao
Yuan eYuan
Jennie eSi
spellingShingle Hongwei eMao
Yuan eYuan
Jennie eSi
Improved Discriminability of Spatiotemporal Neural Patterns in Rat Motor Cortical Areas as Directional Choice Learning Progresses
Frontiers in Systems Neuroscience
plasticity
associative learning
action selection
Support Vector Machines
agranular medial and lateral areas
author_facet Hongwei eMao
Yuan eYuan
Jennie eSi
author_sort Hongwei eMao
title Improved Discriminability of Spatiotemporal Neural Patterns in Rat Motor Cortical Areas as Directional Choice Learning Progresses
title_short Improved Discriminability of Spatiotemporal Neural Patterns in Rat Motor Cortical Areas as Directional Choice Learning Progresses
title_full Improved Discriminability of Spatiotemporal Neural Patterns in Rat Motor Cortical Areas as Directional Choice Learning Progresses
title_fullStr Improved Discriminability of Spatiotemporal Neural Patterns in Rat Motor Cortical Areas as Directional Choice Learning Progresses
title_full_unstemmed Improved Discriminability of Spatiotemporal Neural Patterns in Rat Motor Cortical Areas as Directional Choice Learning Progresses
title_sort improved discriminability of spatiotemporal neural patterns in rat motor cortical areas as directional choice learning progresses
publisher Frontiers Media S.A.
series Frontiers in Systems Neuroscience
issn 1662-5137
publishDate 2015-03-01
description Animals learn to choose a proper action among alternatives to improve their odds of success in food foraging and other activities critical for survival. Through trial-and-error, they learn correct associations between their choices and external stimuli. While a neural network that underlies such learning process has been identified at a high level, it is still unclear how individual neurons and a neural ensemble adapt as learning progresses. In this study, we monitored the activity of single units in the rat medial and lateral agranular (AGm and AGl, respectively) areas as rats learned to make a left or right side lever press in response to a left or right side light cue. We noticed that rat movement parameters during the performance of the directional choice task quickly became stereotyped during the first 2-3 days or sessions. But learning the directional choice problem took weeks to occur. Accompanying rats’ behavioral performance adaptation, we observed neural modulation by directional choice in recorded single units. Our analysis shows that ensemble mean firing rates in the cue-on period did not change significantly as learning progressed, and the ensemble mean rate difference between left and right side choices did not show a clear trend of change either. However, the spatiotemporal firing patterns of the neural ensemble exhibited improved discriminability between the two directional choices through learning. These results suggest a spatiotemporal neural coding scheme in a motor cortical neural ensemble that may be responsible for and contributing to learning the directional choice task.
topic plasticity
associative learning
action selection
Support Vector Machines
agranular medial and lateral areas
url http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fnsys.2015.00028/full
work_keys_str_mv AT hongweiemao improveddiscriminabilityofspatiotemporalneuralpatternsinratmotorcorticalareasasdirectionalchoicelearningprogresses
AT yuaneyuan improveddiscriminabilityofspatiotemporalneuralpatternsinratmotorcorticalareasasdirectionalchoicelearningprogresses
AT jennieesi improveddiscriminabilityofspatiotemporalneuralpatternsinratmotorcorticalareasasdirectionalchoicelearningprogresses
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