Bale, Michael, Bitzidou, Malamati, Pitas, Anna, Brebner, Leonie Sophie, Khazim, Lina, Anagnou, Stavros, Stevenson, Caitlin and Maravall, Miguel (2017) Learning and recognition of tactile temporal sequences by mice and humans. eLife, 2017 (6). e27333. ISSN 2050-084X

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Abstract

The world around us is replete with stimuli that unfold over time. When we hear an auditory stream like music or speech or scan a texture with our fingertip, physical features in the stimulus are concatenated in a particular order. This temporal patterning is critical to interpreting the stimulus. To explore the capacity of mice and humans to learn tactile sequences, we developed a task in which subjects had to recognise a continuous modulated noise sequence delivered to whiskers or fingertips, defined by its temporal patterning over hundreds of milliseconds. GO and NO-GO sequences differed only in that the order of their constituent noise modulation segments was temporally scrambled. Both mice and humans efficiently learned tactile sequences. Mouse sequence recognition depended on detecting transitions in noise amplitude; animals could base their decision on the earliest information available. Humans appeared to use additional cues, including the duration of noise modulation segments.

Item Type:	Article
Keywords:	NEUROSCIENCE SOMATOSENSORY WHISKERS HEAD-FIXED STREAMING VIBRISSAE TEMPORAL CODING
Schools and Departments:	Brighton and Sussex Medical School > Neuroscience
Research Centres and Groups:	Sussex Neuroscience
Subjects:	B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BF Psychology > BF0309 Consciousness. Cognition Including learning, attention, comprehension, memory, imagination, genius, intelligence, thought and thinking, psycholinguistics, mental fatigue Q Science > QL Zoology > QL0750 Animal behaviour Q Science > QP Physiology > QP0351 Neurophysiology and neuropsychology Q Science > QP Physiology > QP0351 Neurophysiology and neuropsychology > QP0431 Senses
Depositing User:	Michael Bale
Date Deposited:	17 Aug 2017 13:03
Last Modified:	06 Feb 2018 11:40
URI:	http://srodev.sussex.ac.uk/id/eprint/54468

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