Abstract
Despite wide evidence suggesting anatomical and functional interactions between cortex, cerebellum and basal ganglia, the learning processes operating within them --often viewed as respectively unsupervised, supervised and reinforcement learning-- are studied in isolation, neglecting their strong interdependence. We discuss how those brain areas form a highly integrated system combining different learning mechanisms into an effective super-learning process supporting the acquisition of flexible motor behaviour. The term “super-learning” does not indicate a new learning paradigm. Rather, it refers to the fact that different learning mechanisms act in synergy as they: (a) affect neural structures often relying on the widespread action of neuromodulators; (b) act within various stages of cortical/subcortical pathways that are organised in pipeline to support multiple sensation-to-action mappings operating at different levels of abstraction; (c) interact through the reciprocal influence of the output compartments of different brain structures, most notably in the cerebello-cortical and basal ganglia-cortical loops. Here we articulate this new hypothesis and discuss empirical evidence supporting it by specifically referring to motor adaptation and sequence learning.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 19-34 |
Number of pages | 16 |
Journal | Neuroscience and biobehavioral reviews |
Volume | 100 |
Early online date | 18 Feb 2019 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 1 May 2019 |
Keywords
- Acetylcholine
- Basal ganglia
- Cerebellum
- Cortex
- Cortical-subcortical hierarchies
- Dopamine
- Interplay between learning mechanisms
- Neuromodulation
- Noradrenaline
- Reinforcement learning
- Serotonin
- Super-learning
- Supervised learning
- System-level neuroscience
- Unsupervised learning
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Neuropsychology and Physiological Psychology
- Cognitive Neuroscience
- Behavioral Neuroscience