@article {1229189, title = {Adaptive Regulation of Motor Variability.}, journal = {Current Biology}, volume = {pii: S0960-9822}, year = {2019}, pages = {31102-9}, abstract = {

Trial-to-trial movement variability can both drive motor learning and interfere with expert performance, suggesting benefits of regulating it in context-specific ways. Here we address whether and how the brain regulates motor variability as a function of performance by training rats to execute ballistic forelimb movements for reward. Behavioral datasets comprising millions of trials revealed that motor variability is regulated by two distinct processes. A fast process modulates variability as a function of recent trial outcomes, increasing it when performance is poor and vice versa. A slower process tunes the gain of the fast process based on the uncertainty in the task{\textquoteright}s reward landscape. Simulations demonstrated that this regulation strategy optimizes reward accumulation over a wide range of time horizons, while also promoting learning. Our results uncover a sophisticated algorithm implemented by the brain to adaptively regulate motor variability to improve task performance. VIDEO ABSTRACT.

PMID:31630947\  DOI:10.1016/j.cub.2019.08.052

}, url = {https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31630947}, author = {Dhawale, A. K. and Miyamoto, Y. R. and Smith, M. A. and {\"O}lveczky, B. P.} }