CAREER: Action Binding During Long-term Sequential Skill Learning: Computational and Neural Mechanisms

Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh PA

Investigators

Abstract

How does someone learn a complex skill that unfolds over time, such as learning to play a piano sonata? This ability entails interacting processing levels, including conceptual knowledge (e.g., the notes of the melody on the sheet of music) and motor production (e.g., the actions of physically pressing the piano keys). This research program will combine computational models, neuroimaging, and brain stimulation methods to explore how these two levels of sequential skill knowledge are acquired by interacting brain systems. The work takes advantage of the fact that motor learning leaves a signature in the timing movements, called "chunking." The impact of this project extends from clinical rehabilitation to basic models of brain function. A hallmark symptom of some neurodegenerative conditions, like Parkinson's disease, is a difficulty in learning new skills. Understanding how skill learning occurs in the healthy brain can provide critical insights into how it is affected in neurological conditions. Scientifically, this research program will also attempt to bridge two largely independent literatures in cognitive science (sequential skill learning) and neuroscience (basal ganglia plasticity), providing a biologically meaningful foundation for well established psychological phenomena. Finally, by producing new tools and novel data sets that will be made publicly available, the work will integrate with the broader open-science community that seeks to foster the scientific enterprise by improving access to tools and data.