Coding and Learning of Behavioral Sequences

O. Melamed, W. Gerstner, W. Maass, M. Tsodyks, and H. Markram

Abstract:

A major challenge to understanding behavior is how the nervous system allows the learning of behavioral sequences that can occur over arbitrary timescales, ranging from milliseconds up to seconds, using a fixed millisecond learning rule. This article describes some potential solutions, and then focuses on a study by Mehta et al. that could contribute towards solving this puzzle. They have discovered that an experience-dependent asymmetric shape of hippocampal receptive fields combined with oscillatory inhibition can serve to map behavioral sequences on a fixed timescale.



Reference: O. Melamed, W. Gerstner, W. Maass, M. Tsodyks, and H. Markram. Coding and learning of behavioral sequences. Trends in Neurosciences, 27(1):11-14, 2004.