A natural history of skills

Thomas Boraud, Arthur Leblois, Nicolas P. Rougier
Progress in Neurobiology. 2018-12-01; 171: 114-124
DOI: 10.1016/j.pneurobio.2018.08.003

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Boraud T(1), Leblois A(2), Rougier NP(3).

Author information:
(1)CNRS, UMR 5293, IMN, 33000 Bordeaux, France; University of Bordeaux, UMR 5293,
IMN, 33000 Bordeaux, France; CNRS, French-Israeli Neuroscience Lab, 33000
Bordeaux, France; CHU de Bordeaux, IMN Clinique, 33000 Bordeaux, France.
Electronic address: .
(2)CNRS, UMR 5293, IMN, 33000 Bordeaux, France; University of Bordeaux, UMR 5293,
IMN, 33000 Bordeaux, France; CNRS, French-Israeli Neuroscience Lab, 33000
Bordeaux, France.
(3)University of Bordeaux, UMR 5293, IMN, 33000 Bordeaux, France; INRIA Bordeaux
Sud-Ouest, 33405 Talence, France; LaBRI, University of Bordeaux, IPB, CNRS, UMR
5800, 33405 Talence, France.

The dorsal pallium (a.k.a. cortex in mammals) makes a loop circuit with the basal
ganglia and the thalamus known to control and adapt behavior but the who’s who of
the functional roles of these structures is still debated. Influenced by the
Triune brain theory that was proposed in the early sixties, many current theories
propose a hierarchical organization on the top of which stands the cortex to
which the subcortical structures are subordinated. In particular, habits
formation has been proposed to reflect a switch from conscious on-line control of
behavior by the cortex, to a fully automated subcortical control. In this review,
we propose to revalue the function of the network in light of the current
experimental evidence concerning the anatomy and physiology of the basal
ganglia-cortical circuits in vertebrates. We briefly review the current theories
and show that they could be encompassed in a broader framework of skill learning
and performance. Then, after reminding the state of the art concerning the
anatomical architecture of the network and the underlying dynamic processes, we
summarize the evolution of the anatomical and physiological substrate of skill
learning and performance among vertebrates. We then review experimental evidence
supporting for the hypothesis that the development of automatized skills relies
on the BG teaching cortical circuits and is actually a late feature linked with
the development of a specialized cortex or pallium that evolved in parallel in
different taxa. We finally propose a minimal computational framework where this
hypothesis can be explicitly implemented and tested.

Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

DOI: 10.1016/j.pneurobio.2018.08.003
PMID: 30171867

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