Publications by authors named "Noga Larry"
The substantia nigra pars reticulata (SNpr), an output structure of the basal ganglia, is hypothesized to gate movement execution. Previous studies in the eye movement system focusing mostly on saccades have reported that SNpr neurons are tonically active and either pause or increase their firing during movements, consistent with the gating role. We recorded activity in the SNpr of two monkeys during smooth pursuit and saccadic eye movements.
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- The cerebellum plays a crucial role in regulating motor, cognitive, social, and emotional functions by interacting with other brain structures to support automatic behaviors and predictive mechanisms across various tasks, including reward-related activities.
- It encodes important signals related to reward prediction and temporal changes, influenced by chemical changes in catecholamines, which assist in cognitive learning and complex behavior modulation.
- Recent research highlights the cerebellum's involvement in mood disorders and addiction, as it helps manage reward sensitivity and loss aversion, while also predicting behavioral outcomes based on past experiences, which can affect social interactions and impulse control.
The basal ganglia and the cerebellum are major subcortical structures in the motor system. The basal ganglia have been cast as the reward center of the motor system, whereas the cerebellum is thought to be involved in adjusting sensorimotor parameters. Recent findings of reward signals in the cerebellum have challenged this dichotomous view.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCorrelated activity between neurons can cause variability in behavior across trials, as trial-by-trial cofluctuations can propagate downstream through the motor system. The extent to which correlated activity affects behavior depends on the properties of the translation of the population activity into movement. A major hurdle in studying the effects of noise correlations on behavior is that in many cases this translation is unknown.
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- Climbing fibers in the cerebellum are key for learning about errors, but new research shows they also process reward signals.
- In an eye movement task with monkeys, climbing fiber activity increased when high reward cues were presented but not for low rewards.
- The findings suggest that climbing fibers encode expected reward size, indicating the cerebellum's broader role in associative learning beyond just correcting mistakes.