Learning and Timing of Voluntary Blink Responses Match Eyeblink Conditioning

Rasmussen, Anders; Jirenhed, Dan-Anders

doi:10.1038/s41598-017-03343-2

Cited by 15 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 29 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…Prior studies have shown that the instructions given to the participants influence the learning pattern (Gormezano and Moore, 1962; Nicholls and Kimble, 1964). Moreover, if prompted to do so, participants can produce voluntary blink responses that are indistinguishable from classically conditioned blink responses (Rasmussen and Jirenhed, 2017). If the generation of a CR is, to some extent, under voluntary control then this can explain both high rates of CRs in the beginning of training as well as the absence of CRs.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

A Longer Interstimulus Interval Yields Better Learning in Adults and Young Adolescents

Kjell

Löwgren

Rasmussen

2018

Front. Behav. Neurosci.

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Eyeblink conditioning is one of the most popular experimental paradigms for studying the neural mechanisms underlying learning and memory. A key parameter in eyeblink conditioning is the interstimulus interval (ISI), the time between the onset of the conditional stimulus (CS) and the onset of the unconditional stimulus (US). Though previous studies have examined how the ISI affects learning there is no clear consensus concerning which ISI is most effective and different researchers use different ISIs. Importantly, the brain undergoes changes throughout life with significant cerebellar growth in adolescents, which could mean that different ISIs might be called for in children, adolescents and adults. Moreover, the fact that animals are often trained with a shorter ISI than humans make direct comparisons problematic. In this study, we compared eyeblink conditioning in young adolescents aged 10–15 and adults using one short ISI (300 ms) and one long ISI (500 ms). The results demonstrate that young adolescents and adults produce a higher percentage of CRs when they are trained with a 500 ms ISI compared to a 300 ms ISI. The results also show that learning is better in the adults, especially for the shorter ISI.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For further details about the training of the adults we refer the reader to Löwgren et al (2017). For further details about the procedure that the adolescents went through we refer the reader to Rasmussen and Jirenhed (2017).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Longer Interstimulus Interval Yields Better Learning in Adults and Young Adolescents

Kjell

Löwgren

Rasmussen

2018

Front. Behav. Neurosci.

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The neural architecture of the cerebellum makes it well-suited for mediating the initiation and adjustment phases of the timing model with its strongest influence occurring during the acquisition of timed response sequences. The ICAT model also proposes that the cerebellum is primarily responsible for automatic timing processes that underlie reflexive behaviors [119]. In contrast, cortico-thalamo-striatal (CTS) circuits provide controlled flexibility in support of the continuation mechanisms for interval timing.…”

Section: Deep Cerebellar Nucleimentioning

confidence: 99%

Consensus paper: Decoding the Contributions of the Cerebellum as a Time Machine. From Neurons to Clinical Applications

et al. 2018

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Time perception is an essential element of conscious and subconscious experience, coordinating our perception and interaction with the surrounding environment. In recent years, major technological advances in the field of neuroscience have helped foster new insights into the processing of temporal information, including extending our knowledge of the role of the cerebellum as one of the key nodes in the brain for this function. This consensus paper provides a state-of-the-art picture from the experts in the field of the cerebellar research on a variety of crucial issues related to temporal processing, drawing on recent anatomical, neurophysiological, behavioral, and clinical research.The cerebellar granular layer appears especially well-suited for timing operations required to confer millisecond precision for cerebellar computations. This may be most evident in the manner the cerebellum controls the duration of the timing of agonist-antagonist EMG bursts associated with fast goal-directed voluntary movements. In concert with adaptive processes, interactions within the cerebellar cortex are sufficient to support sub-second timing. However, supra-second timing seems to require cortical and basal ganglia networks, perhaps operating in concert with Cerebellum.Additionally, sensory information such as an unexpected stimulus can be forwarded to the cerebellum via the climbing fiber system, providing a temporally constrained mechanism to adjust on-going behavior and modify future processing. Patients with cerebellar disorders exhibit impairments on a range of tasks that require precise timing, and recent evidence suggest that timing problems observed in other neurological conditions such as Parkinson's disease, essential tremor, and dystonia, may reflect disrupted interactions between the basal ganglia and cerebellum.The complex concepts emerging from this consensus paper should provide a foundation for further discussion, helping identify basic research questions required to understand how the brain represents and utilizes time, as well as delineating ways in which this knowledge can help improve the lives of those with neurological conditions that disrupt this most elemental sense. The panel of experts agrees that timing control in the brain is a complex concept in whom cerebellar circuitry is deeply involved. The concept of a timing machine has now expanded to clinical disorders. The Cerebellum Represents Isolated Temporal Intervals Across Task Domains Assaf Breska and Richard B. IvryIt is widely accepted that the cerebellum contributes, in some manner, to temporal processing, but the functional domain and computational mechanisms remain the subject of considerable debate. An early hypothesis was that the cerebellum served as a centralized, dedicated timing system [6,7].

show abstract

“…The cerebellum is involved in various cognitive systems 16,46 and lesions to the cerebellum can cause impairments of language, attention, and executive functions 16,47 . Recently, it was shown that human subjects can produce well-timed voluntary blink responses indistinguishable from other CRs 35 . It has also been suggested that associative learning based on eyeblink conditioning is a high-level cognitive process, and there is substantial evidence showing that awareness of the relationship between the CS and US influences the results [48][49][50] .…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Weak correlations between cerebellar tests

Löwgren

Bååth

Rasmussen

2020

Sci Rep

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Eyeblink conditioning, finger tapping, and prism adaptation are three tasks that have been linked to the cerebellum. Previous research suggests that these tasks recruit distinct but partially overlapping parts of the cerebellum, as well as different extra-cerebellar networks. However, the relationships between the performances on these tasks remain unclear. Here we tested eyeblink conditioning, finger tapping, and prism adaptation in 42 children and 44 adults and estimated the degree of correlation between the performance measures. The results show that performance on all three tasks improves with age in typically developing school-aged children. However, the correlations between the performance measures of the different tasks were consistently weak and without any consistent directions. This reinforces the view that eyeblink conditioning, finger tapping, and prism adaptation rely on distinct mechanisms. Consequently, performance on these tasks cannot be used separately to assess a common cerebellar function or to make general conclusions about cerebellar dysfunction. However, together, these three behavioral tasks have the potential to contribute to a nuanced picture of human cerebellar functions during development. In eyeblink conditioning, an initially neutral conditional stimulus (CS), often a tone, is repeatedly presented before an unconditional stimulus (US), often an air-puff to the cornea, which elicits a reflexive unconditional response (UR). Eventually, the CS acquires the ability to elicit a conditioned blink response (CR), that occurs before the US. In finger tapping, a subject is asked to follow a rhythmic stimulus, often auditory, and then reproduce the tempo after the auditory stimulus has ended. In prism adaptation, the subject wears wedge prisms that displace the visual field laterally, causing a pointing error that diminishes quickly with training. Research on animals and humans shows that the cerebellum plays a critical role in the acquisition and expression of CRs during eyeblink conditioning 1-5. In finger tapping, the cerebellum is recruited during the ongoing sensorimotor timing control 6. The cerebellum's importance for eyeblink conditioning and finger tapping is perhaps unsurprising given that both tasks require precise timing in the sub-second range-which is a key function of the cerebellum 7,8. Indeed, based on their shared reliance on precise timing, it has been suggested that finger tapping and eyeblink conditioning depend on the same neural mechanisms 9. Prism adaptation, by contrast, is thought to rely on cerebellar spatial processing 10,11. While there is ample evidence showing that performance in eyeblink conditioning, finger tapping, and prism adaptation all involve the cerebellum 12-14 , it is also clear from animal studies and fMRI studies on humans that these three tasks rely on partially separate cerebellar and extra-cerebellar neuroanatomical sites 15-17. Eyeblink conditioning engages Larsell's cortical lobule VI 18,19. Studies using fMRI in humans show that finger tapping a...

show abstract

Learning and Timing of Voluntary Blink Responses Match Eyeblink Conditioning

Cited by 15 publications

References 29 publications

A Longer Interstimulus Interval Yields Better Learning in Adults and Young Adolescents

A Longer Interstimulus Interval Yields Better Learning in Adults and Young Adolescents

Consensus paper: Decoding the Contributions of the Cerebellum as a Time Machine. From Neurons to Clinical Applications

Weak correlations between cerebellar tests

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About