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Biomedical subjects

Jadin C Jackson

Publications and source records attributed to Jadin C Jackson.

3 recordsLinked to original sources

Hippocampal sharp waves and reactivation during awake states depend on repeated sequential experience.

Hippocampal firing patterns during behavior are reactivated during rest and subsequent slow-wave sleep. These reactivations occur during transient local field potential (LFP) events, termed sharp waves. Theories of hippocampal processing suggest that sharp waves arise from strengthened plasticity, and that the strengthened plasticity depends on repeated cofiring of pyramidal cells. We tested these predictions by recording neural ensembles and LFPs from rats running tasks requiring different levels of behavioral repetition. The number of sharp waves emitted increased during sessions with more regular behaviors. Reactivation became more similar to behavioral firing patterns across the session. This enhanced reactivation also depended on the regularity of the behavior. Additional studies in CA3 and CA1 found that the number of sharp waves emitted also increased in CA3 recordings as well as CA1, but that the time courses were different between the two structures.

Action Potentials↗

Using arm configuration to learn the effects of gyroscopes and other devices.

Previous studies have perturbed the association between motor commands and arm movements by applying forces to the arm during two-dimensional movements. These studies have revealed that, when the normal hand path is perturbed, subjects gradually adapt their motor commands to return to this path. The present study used the spin of a gyroscope to create a complex perturbation, as subjects reached to targets presented in three dimensions. Hand path did not change, but the whole-arm geometry ("arm configuration" in four dimensions) was altered. Over a series of several hundred reaches to various targets, subjects gradually returned the arm movement to its normal configuration. Furthermore, during the course of this learning, subjects used a strategy that involved manipulating arm posture. A similar strategy was observed when subjects made reaching movements with a rod attached to the upper arm to change its inertial characteristics. In both cases, the gradual return to the normal arm movement was accomplished without an increase in kinetic energy, suggesting that arm postures and movements (kinematics) and muscular forces (kinetics) may be mutually optimized. In contrast to previous studies, the present results highlight the role of arm configuration (rather than hand path) in learning and control.

Adaptation, Physiological↗

Detecting dynamical changes within a simulated neural ensemble using a measure of representational quality.

Technological advances allowing simultaneous recording of neuronal ensembles have led to many developments in our understanding of how the brain performs neural computations. One key technique for extracting information from neural populations has been population reconstruction. While reconstruction is a powerful tool, it only provides a value and gives no indication of the quality of the representation itself. In this paper, we present a mathematically and statistically justified measure for assessing the quality of a representation in a neuronal ensemble. Using a simulated neural network, we show that this measure can distinguish between system states and identify moments of dynamical change within the system. While the examples used in this paper all derive from a standard network model, the measure itself is very general. It requires only a representational space, measured tuning curves, and neural ensembles.

Animals↗