Carey Megan R, Medina Javier F, Lisberger Stephen G
Howard Hughes Medical Institute, W.M. Keck Foundation Center for Integrative Neuroscience, Neuroscience Graduate Program, and Department of Physiology, University of California, San Francisco, California 94143-0444, USA.
Nat Neurosci. 2005 Jun;8(6):813-9. doi: 10.1038/nn1470. Epub 2005 May 22.
Sensory error signals have long been proposed to act as instructive signals to guide motor learning. Here we have exploited the temporal specificity of learning in smooth pursuit eye movements and the well-defined anatomical structure of the neural circuit for pursuit to identify a part of sensory cortex that provides instructive signals for motor learning in monkeys. We show that electrical microstimulation in the motion-sensitive middle temporal area (MT) of extrastriate visual cortex instructs learning in smooth eye movements in a way that closely mimics the learning instructed by real visual motion. We conclude that MT provides instructive signals for motor learning in smooth pursuit eye movements under natural conditions, suggesting a similar role for sensory cortices in many kinds of learned behaviors.
长期以来，人们一直认为感觉误差信号可作为指导运动学习的指令性信号。在此，我们利用了平稳跟踪眼球运动中学习的时间特异性以及用于跟踪的神经回路明确的解剖结构，来识别为猴子的运动学习提供指令性信号的感觉皮层的一部分。我们表明，对视皮层中运动敏感的颞中区（MT）进行电微刺激，能够以一种紧密模仿真实视觉运动所指导的学习方式，指导平稳眼球运动的学习。我们得出结论，在自然条件下，MT为平稳跟踪眼球运动的运动学习提供指令性信号，这表明感觉皮层在多种学习行为中可能发挥类似作用。
