How the Cerebellum and Prefrontal Cortex Cooperate During Trace Eyeblinking Conditioning

Abstract

<jats:p> Several data have demonstrated that during the widely used experimental paradigm for studying associative learning, trace eye blinking conditioning (TEBC), there is a strong interaction between cerebellum and medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC). Despite this evidence, the neural mechanisms underlying this interaction are still not clear. Here, we propose a neurophysiologically plausible computational model to address this issue. The model is constrained on the basis of two critical anatomo-physiological features: (i) the cerebello-cortical organization through two circuits, respectively, targeting M1 and mPFC; (ii) the different timing in the plasticity mechanisms of these parallel circuits produced by the granule cells time sensitivity according to which different subpopulations are active at different moments during conditioned stimuli. The computer simulations run with the model suggest that these features are critical to understand how the cooperation between cerebellum and mPFC supports motor areas during TEBC. In particular, a greater trace interval produces greater plasticity changes at the slow path synapses involving mPFC with respect to plasticity changes at the fast path involving M1. As a consequence, the greater is the trace interval, the stronger is the mPFC involvement. The model has been validated by reproducing data collected through recent real mice experiments. </jats:p>

Interactions between supervised and reinforcement learning processes in a neurorobotic model

“…The current model represents a first important step to study the possible integration of reinforcement and supervised learning processes in the brain. Future versions of the model could increase the realism and the quantitative matching of data of the model by including features that reproduce the interaction between cortical-subcortical learning mechanisms [70,71], and an architecture more closely reproducing the brain hierarchy underlying the acquisition and expression of motor movements with possibly a more explicit representation of targets [72][73][74].…”

Cerebellum-Cortical Interaction in Spatial Navigation and Its Alteration in Dementias

“…Moreover, in a recent model built with spiking neurons, Caligiore and Mirino [78] show how the cerebellum and the medial prefrontal cortex strongly cooperate in associative learning, assisting the work of specific areas for the proper functioning of the system. Finally, forward models support the existence of two systems working in parallel, one learning from the other and simulating its operations.…”

Cortico-Cerebellar Hyper-Connections and Reduced Purkinje Cells Behind Abnormal Eyeblink Conditioning in a Computational Model of Autism Spectrum Disorder

“…By contrast, the "cognitive" kernel (Figure 2 solid line) mainly modulates the activity of the GRc-PCc-DNc-mPFC-M1 path and allows high CS-US correlation when the stimulus duration is more extended (function peak at 250 ms). These features make the model able to process stimuli of different duration and address both trace and delay paradigms (Caligiore and Mirino, 2020). The following FIGURE 2 | Kernel functions used for GR and PC synaptic long term depression (LTD).…”

“…The LTD implemented at the GR-PC synapses is an associative weight decrease triggered by spikes from IO (Ito, 2001). The LTD algorithm uses the temporal kernels shown in the Figure 2, which correlate each spike from IO (US) with the past activity of GR (CS) (Caligiore et al, 2019a;Caligiore and Mirino, 2020). The spike train supplied to the GR-PC afferent connection (all CS spikes emitted for t < 0 s in the Figure 2) is separately convolved with both motor and cognitive kernels.…”

“…The neural mechanisms underlying this atypical learning behavior are not fully clear. This article uses an improved version of the physiologically constrained spiking neuron model of the cerebellar-cortical circuits recently proposed by Caligiore and Mirino (2020) to address this issue. The cerebellum is a fundamental processing unit for various cognitive and motor tasks (Ivry and Baldo, 1992).…”