Cosyne 2007 Workshops
February 26-27, 2007
The Canyons, Utah
Wendy A. Suzuki, Ph.D. Center for Neural Science, New York University
Making New Memories: Associative Learning Signals in the
Monkey Medial Temporal Lobe
A critical function of the medial temporal lobe is the ability to successfully acquire new declarative information about facts and events that includes new associations between initially unrelated items (associative learning). A major goal of my lab is to understand the brain basis of new associative learning. I will first summarize the studies we have done characterizing the patterns of neural activity seen as monkeys learn new associations on-line. These studies have shown that neurons throughout the medial temporal lobe signal new learning with changes in their stimulus-selective response properties. More recent studies have revealed that these changes in stimulus-selective responses reflect the animal’s behavioral learning strategy. A surprising new finding shows that hippocampal neurons also provide a powerful signal of trail outcome, differentiating between trials that are correct or wrong. I will discuss the possible of role of these signals in a feedback process by which information about behavioral outcome can be used to strengthen correct performance and modify error performance.
