School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON K1N 9A7, Canada; The Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, Ottawa, ON K1Y 4E9, Canada.
The Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, Ottawa, ON K1Y 4E9, Canada; Brain and Mind Research Institute, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON K1H 8M5, Canada.
Cell Rep. 2023 May 30;42(5):112449. doi: 10.1016/j.celrep.2023.112449. Epub 2023 Apr 27.
The lateral prefrontal cortex (LPFC) of primates is thought to play a role in associative learning. However, it remains unclear how LPFC neuronal ensembles dynamically encode and store memories for arbitrary stimulus-response associations. We recorded the activity of neurons in LPFC of two macaques during an associative learning task using multielectrode arrays. During task trials, the color of a symbolic cue indicated the location of one of two possible targets for a saccade. During a trial block, multiple randomly chosen associations were learned by the subjects. A state-space analysis indicated that LPFC neuronal ensembles rapidly learn new stimulus-response associations mirroring the animals' learning. Multiple associations acquired during training are stored in a neuronal subspace and can be retrieved hours after learning. Finally, knowledge of old associations facilitates learning new, similar associations. These results indicate that neuronal ensembles in the primate LPFC provide a flexible and dynamic substrate for associative learning.
灵长类动物的外侧前额叶皮层（LPFC）被认为在联想学习中发挥作用。然而，LPFC 神经元集合如何动态地对任意刺激-反应关联进行编码和存储记忆仍不清楚。我们使用多电极阵列在两只猕猴的 LPFC 中记录神经元的活动，在联想学习任务期间。在任务试验中，符号提示的颜色表示扫视的两个可能目标之一的位置。在试验块期间，受试者学习了多个随机选择的关联。状态空间分析表明，LPFC 神经元集合快速学习新的刺激-反应关联，反映了动物的学习情况。在训练期间获得的多个关联存储在神经元子空间中，并可以在学习后数小时检索。最后，对旧关联的了解有助于学习新的、类似的关联。这些结果表明，灵长类动物 LPFC 中的神经元集合为联想学习提供了一个灵活和动态的基础。
