scholarly journals The segregation of vocal circuits solves a credit assignment problem associated with multi-objective reinforcement learning

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Don Murdoch ◽  
Ruidong Chen ◽  
Jesse Goldberg
Keyword(s):  
Motor System ◽  
Vocal Learning ◽  
Place Learning ◽  
Credit Assignment ◽  
Strobe Light ◽  
Multi Objective ◽  
Motor Circuits ◽  
And Function ◽  
Learning Circuits ◽  
Double Dissociations

AbstractMotor circuits vary in topographic organization, ranging from a coarse relationship between neuron location and function to highly localized regions controlling specific behaviors. For unclear reasons, vocal learning circuits lie at this second extreme: they repeatedly evolved to be spatially segregated from other parts of the motor system. Here we show that spatially segregated motor circuits can solve a specific problem that arises when an animal tries to learn two things at once. We trained songbirds in vocal and place learning paradigms with brief strobe light flashes and noise bursts. Strobe light negatively reinforced place learning but did not affect song syllable learning. Noise bursts positively reinforced place preference but negatively reinforced syllable learning. These double dissociations indicate that vocalization-related reinforcement signals specifically target the vocal motor system, while place-related reinforcement signals specifically target the navigation system. Non-global, target-specific reinforcement signals have established utility in machine implementation of multi-objective learning. In vocal learners, such signals could enable an animal to practice vocalizing as it does other things such as forage for food or learn to walk.

scholarly journals Fast retrograde access to projection neuron circuits underlying vocal learning in songbirds

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
DN Düring ◽  
F Dittrich ◽  
MD Rocha ◽  
RO Tachibana ◽  
C Mori ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Dopaminergic Neurons ◽  
Morphological Analysis ◽  
Vocal Learning ◽  
Projection Neuron ◽  
Neuron Populations ◽  
And Function ◽  
Genetic Targeting ◽  
Learning Circuits ◽  
Specific Neuron

SummaryUnderstanding the structure and function of neural circuits underlying speech and language is a vital step towards better treatments for diseases of these systems. Songbirds, among the few animal orders that share with humans the ability to learn vocalizations from a conspecific, have provided many insights into the neural mechanisms of vocal development. However, research into vocal learning circuits has been hindered by a lack of tools for rapid genetic targeting of specific neuron populations to meet the quick pace of developmental learning. Here, we present a new viral tool that enables fast and efficient retrograde access to projection neuron populations. In zebra finches, Bengalese finches, canaries, and mice, we demonstrate fast retrograde labeling of cortical or dopaminergic neurons. We further demonstrate the suitability of our construct for detailed morphological analysis, for in vivo imaging of calcium activity, and for multicolor brainbow labeling.

Actions, Words, and Numbers

2008 ◽  
Vol 17 (5) ◽  
pp. 313-317 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Andres ◽  
Etienne Olivier ◽  
Arnaud Badets
Keyword(s):  
Motor System ◽  
Semantic Knowledge ◽  
Functional Brain Imaging ◽  
Adult Brain ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Number Representation ◽  
Motor Circuits ◽  
Magnitude Processing ◽  
Finger Counting ◽  
Report Data

Recent findings in neuroscience challenge the view that the motor system is exclusively dedicated to the control of actions, and it has been suggested that it may contribute critically to conceptual processes such as those involved in language and number representation. The aim of this review is to address this issue by illustrating some interactions between the motor system and the processing of words and numbers. First, we detail functional brain imaging studies suggesting that motor circuits may be recruited to represent the meaning of action-related words. Second, we summarize a series of experiments demonstrating some interference between the size of grip used to grasp objects and the magnitude processing of words or numbers. Third, we report data suggestive of a common representation of numbers and finger movements in the adult brain, a possible trace of the finger-counting strategies used in childhood. Altogether, these studies indicate that the motor system interacts with several aspects of word and number representations. Future research should determine whether these findings reflect a causal role of the motor system in the organization of semantic knowledge.

scholarly journals Sex hormone influence on human infants' sound characteristics: melody in spontaneous crying

2014 ◽  
Vol 10 (5) ◽  
pp. 20140095 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kathleen Wermke ◽  
Johannes Hain ◽  
Klaus Oehler ◽  
Peter Wermke ◽  
Volker Hesse
Keyword(s):  
Vocal Learning ◽  
Human Infants ◽  
Healthy Infants ◽  
Two Samples ◽  
Vocal System ◽  
Functional Lateralization ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Hormone Influence ◽  
And Function ◽  
The Brain

The specific impact of sex hormones on brain development and acoustic communication is known from animal models. Sex steroid hormones secreted during early development play an essential role in hemispheric organization and the functional lateralization of the brain, e.g. language. In animals, these hormones are well-known regulators of vocal motor behaviour. Here, the association between melody properties of infants' sounds and serum concentrations of sex steroids was investigated. Spontaneous crying was sampled in 18 healthy infants, averaging two samples taken at four and eight weeks, respectively. Blood samples were taken within a day of the crying samples. The fundamental frequency contour (melody) was analysed quantitatively and the infants' frequency modulation skills expressed by a melody complexity index (MCI). These skills provide prosodic primitives for later language. A hierarchical, multiple regression approach revealed a significant, robust relationship between the individual MCIs and the unbound, bioactive fraction of oestradiol at four weeks as well as with the four-to-eight-week difference in androstenedione. No robust relationship was found between the MCI and testosterone. Our findings suggest that oestradiol may have effects on the development and function of the auditory–vocal system in human infants that are as powerful as those in vocal-learning animals.

scholarly journals MicroRNAs Regulate Multiple Aspects of Locomotor Behavior in Drosophila

2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 43-55
Author(s):  
Nathan C. Donelson ◽  
Richa Dixit ◽  
Israel Pichardo-Casas ◽  
Eva Y. Chiu ◽  
Robert T. Ohman ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Nervous System ◽  
Neural Development ◽  
Locomotor Behavior ◽  
Temperature Dependent ◽  
Motor Circuits ◽  
The Many ◽  
And Function ◽  
Post Transcriptional Regulation ◽  
Movement Tracking

Locomotion is an ancient and fundamental output of the nervous system required for animals to perform many other complex behaviors. Although the formation of motor circuits is known to be under developmental control of transcriptional mechanisms that define the fates and connectivity of the many neurons, glia and muscle constituents of these circuits, relatively little is known about the role of post-transcriptional regulation of locomotor behavior. MicroRNAs have emerged as a potentially rich source of modulators for neural development and function. In order to define the microRNAs required for normal locomotion in Drosophila melanogaster, we utilized a set of transgenic Gal4-dependent competitive inhibitors (microRNA sponges, or miR-SPs) to functionally assess ca. 140 high-confidence Drosophila microRNAs using automated quantitative movement tracking systems followed by multiparametric analysis. Using ubiquitous expression of miR-SP constructs, we identified a large number of microRNAs that modulate aspects of normal baseline adult locomotion. Addition of temperature-dependent Gal80 to identify microRNAs that act during adulthood revealed that the majority of these microRNAs play developmental roles. Comparison of ubiquitous and neural-specific miR-SP expression suggests that most of these microRNAs function within the nervous system. Parallel analyses of spontaneous locomotion in adults and in larvae also reveal that very few of the microRNAs required in the adult overlap with those that control the behavior of larval motor circuits. These screens suggest that a rich regulatory landscape underlies the formation and function of motor circuits and that many of these mechanisms are stage and/or parameter-specific.

scholarly journals Molecular specializations of deep cortical layer analogs in songbirds

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexander A. Nevue ◽  
Peter V. Lovell ◽  
Morgan Wirthlin ◽  
Claudio V. Mello
Keyword(s):  
In Situ Hybridization ◽  
Motor Function ◽  
Vocal Learning ◽  
Cortical Layer ◽  
Cortical Layers ◽  
Behavioral Traits ◽  
Molecular Features ◽  
Brain Circuitry ◽  
Learning Circuits

Abstract How the evolution of complex behavioral traits is associated with the emergence of novel brain pathways is largely unknown. Songbirds, like humans, learn vocalizations via tutor imitation and possess a specialized brain circuitry to support this behavior. In a comprehensive in situ hybridization effort, we show that the zebra finch vocal robust nucleus of the arcopallium (RA) shares numerous markers (e.g. SNCA, PVALB) with the adjacent dorsal intermediate arcopallium (AId), an avian analog of mammalian deep cortical layers with involvement in motor function. We also identify markers truly unique to RA and thus likely linked to modulation of vocal motor function (e.g. KCNC1, GABRE), including a subset of the known shared markers between RA and human laryngeal motor cortex (e.g. SLIT1, RTN4R, LINGO1, PLXNC1). The data provide novel insights into molecular features unique to vocal learning circuits, and lend support for the motor theory for vocal learning origin.

scholarly journals State-dependent sensorimotor gating in a rhythmic motor system

2017 ◽  
Vol 118 (5) ◽  
pp. 2806-2818 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rachel S. White ◽  
Robert M. Spencer ◽  
Michael P. Nusbaum ◽  
Dawn M. Blitz
Keyword(s):  
Motor Activity ◽  
Motor System ◽  
Sensory Feedback ◽  
Activity Patterns ◽  
Motor Pattern ◽  
Projection Neuron ◽  
Projection Neurons ◽  
Gastric Mill ◽  
Sensory Regulation ◽  
Motor Circuits

Sensory feedback influences motor circuits and/or their projection neuron inputs to adjust ongoing motor activity, but its efficacy varies. Currently, less is known about regulation of sensory feedback onto projection neurons that control downstream motor circuits than about sensory regulation of the motor circuit neurons themselves. In this study, we tested whether sensory feedback onto projection neurons is sensitive only to activation of a motor system, or also to the modulatory state underlying that activation, using the crab Cancer borealis stomatogastric nervous system. We examined how proprioceptor neurons (gastropyloric receptors, GPRs) influence the gastric mill (chewing) circuit neurons and the projection neurons (MCN1, CPN2) that drive the gastric mill rhythm. During gastric mill rhythms triggered by the mechanosensory ventral cardiac neurons (VCNs), GPR was shown previously to influence gastric mill circuit neurons, but its excitation of MCN1/CPN2 was absent. In this study, we tested whether GPR effects on MCN1/CPN2 are also absent during gastric mill rhythms triggered by the peptidergic postoesophageal commissure (POC) neurons. The VCN and POC pathways both trigger lasting MCN1/CPN2 activation, but their distinct influence on circuit feedback to these neurons produces different gastric mill motor patterns. We show that GPR excites MCN1 and CPN2 during the POC-gastric mill rhythm, altering their firing rates and activity patterns. This action changes both phases of the POC-gastric mill rhythm, whereas GPR only alters one phase of the VCN-gastric mill rhythm. Thus sensory feedback to projection neurons can be gated as a function of the modulatory state of an active motor system, not simply switched on/off with the onset of motor activity. NEW & NOTEWORTHY Sensory feedback influences motor systems (i.e., motor circuits and their projection neuron inputs). However, whether regulation of sensory feedback to these projection neurons is consistent across different versions of the same motor pattern driven by the same motor system was not known. We found that gating of sensory feedback to projection neurons is determined by the modulatory state of the motor system, and not simply by whether the system is active or inactive.

scholarly journals The effects of testosterone and insulin-like growth factor 1 on motor system form and function

2015 ◽  
Vol 64 ◽  
pp. 81-86 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kentaro Oki ◽  
Timothy D. Law ◽  
Anne B. Loucks ◽  
Brian C. Clark
Keyword(s):  
Growth Factor ◽  
Motor System ◽  
Insulin Like Growth Factor ◽  
Form And Function ◽  
System Form ◽  
And Function

The Effect of Credit Definition and Aggregation Strategies on Multi-Objective Hyper-Heuristics

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nozomi Hitomi ◽  
Daniel Selva
Keyword(s):  
Optimization Problems ◽  
Entire Population ◽  
Optimization Process ◽  
Selection Strategy ◽  
Credit Assignment ◽  
Multi Objective ◽  
Domain Specific ◽  
Combinatorial Optimization Problems ◽  
Pareto Ranking ◽  
Selection Strategies

Heuristics and meta-heuristics are often used to solve complex real-world problems such as the non-linear, non-convex, and multi-objective combinatorial optimization problems that regularly appear in system design and architecture. Unfortunately, the performance of a specific heuristic is largely dependent on the specific problem at hand. Moreover, a heuristic’s performance can vary throughout the optimization process. Hyper-heuristics is one approach that can maintain relatively good performance over the course of an optimization process and across a variety of problems without parameter retuning or major modifications. Given a set of domain-specific and domain-independent heuristics, a hyper-heuristic adapts its search strategy over time by selecting the most promising heuristics to use at a given point. A hyper-heuristic must have: 1) a credit assignment strategy to rank the heuristics by their likelihood of producing improving solutions; and 2) a heuristic selection strategy based on the credits assigned to each heuristic. The literature contains many examples of hyper-heuristics with effective credit assignment and heuristic selection strategies for single-objective optimization problems. In multi-objective optimization problems, however, defining credit is less straightforward because there are often competing objectives. Therefore, there is a need to define and assign credit so that heuristics are rewarded for finding solutions with good trades between the objectives. This paper studies, for the first time, different combinations of credit definition, credit aggregation, and heuristic selection strategies. Credit definitions are based on different applications of the notion of Pareto dominance, namely: A1) dominance of the offspring with respect to the parent solutions; A2) ability to produce non-dominated solutions with respect to the entire population; A3) Pareto ranking with respect to the entire population. Two different credit aggregation strategies for assigning credit are also examined. A heuristic will receive credit for: B1) only the solutions it created in the current iteration or B2) all solutions it created that are in the current population. Different heuristic selection strategies are considered including: C1) probability matching; C2) dynamic multi-armed bandit; and C3) Hyper-GA. Thus, we conduct an experiment with three factors: credit definition (A1, A2, A3), credit aggregation (B1, B2), and heuristic selection (C1, C2, C3) and conduct a full factorial experiment. Performance is measured by hyper-volume of the last population. All algorithms are tested on a design problem for a climate monitoring satellite constellation instead of classical benchmarking problems to apply domain-specific heuristics within the hyper-heuristic.

The Role of Endocannabinoid Signaling in Motor Control

Physiology ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 25 (4) ◽  
pp. 230-238 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. El Manira ◽  
A. Kyriakatos
Keyword(s):  
Central Nervous System ◽  
Motor Skills ◽  
Motor System ◽  
Cannabinoid Receptors ◽  
Retrograde Signaling ◽  
Motor Circuits ◽  
The Central Nervous System ◽  
Different Parts

Cannabinoid receptors and endocannabinoid signaling are distributed throughout the rostrocaudal neuraxis. Retrograde signaling via endocannabinoid mediates synaptic plasticity in many regions in the central nervous system. Here, we review the role of endocannabinoid signaling in different parts of the vertebrate motor system from networks responsible for the execution of movement to planning centers in the basal ganglia and cortex. The ubiquity of endocannabinoid-mediated plasticity suggests that it plays an important role in producing motion from defined circuitries and also for reconfiguring networks to learn new motor skills. The long-term plasticity induced by endocannabinoids may provide a long-term buffer that stabilizes the organization of motor circuits and their activity.

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