Topic: short-term learning

Motor adaptation is a widely-used paradigm for understanding short-term learning. However, it is unknown how existing skillsets acquired through the long-term learning process that begins in utero can affect motor adaptation. Long-term learning likely causes changes in neural connectivity, which may shape the neural dynamics that can be produced. To understand the interaction between circuit connectivity constraints and a neural population’s ability to change its activity patterns, we modeled the neural dynamics of the motor cortex during skill learning and subsequent adaptation using a recurr