scholarly journals Early life experience sets hard limits on motor learning as evidenced from artificial arm use

eLife ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roni O Maimon-Mor ◽  
Hunter R Schone ◽  
David Henderson Slater ◽  
Aldo A Faisal ◽  
Tamar R Makin
Keyword(s):  
Motor Control ◽  
Early Life ◽  
Life Experience ◽  
Brain Plasticity ◽  
New Technology ◽  
Body Representation ◽  
Building Blocks ◽  
Early Life Experience ◽  
Sensorimotor Plasticity ◽  
Limb Deficiencies

The study of artificial arms provides a unique opportunity to address long-standing questions on sensorimotor plasticity and development. Learning to use an artificial arm arguably depends on fundamental building blocks of body representation and would therefore be impacted by early-life experience. We tested artificial arm motor-control in two adult populations with upper-limb deficiencies: a congenital group - individuals who were born with a partial arm, and an acquired group - who lost their arm following amputation in adulthood. Brain plasticity research teaches us that the earlier we train to acquire new skills (or use a new technology) the better we benefit from this practice as adults. Instead, we found that although the congenital group started using an artificial arm as toddlers, they produced increased error noise and directional errors when reaching to visual targets, relative to the acquired group who performed similarly to controls. However, the earlier an individual with a congenital limb difference was fitted with an artificial arm, the better their motor control was. Since we found no group differences when reaching without visual feedback, we suggest that the ability to perform efficient visual-based corrective movements is highly dependent on either biological or artificial arm experience at a very young age. Subsequently, opportunities for sensorimotor plasticity become more limited.

scholarly journals Early life experience sets hard limits on motor learning as evidenced from artificial arm use

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roni O. Maimon-Mor ◽  
Hunter R. Schone ◽  
David Henderson Slater ◽  
A. Aldo Faisal ◽  
Tamar R. Makin
Keyword(s):  
Motor Control ◽  
Early Life ◽  
Life Experience ◽  
Brain Plasticity ◽  
New Technology ◽  
Body Representation ◽  
Building Blocks ◽  
Visuomotor Integration ◽  
Early Life Experience ◽  
Sensorimotor Plasticity

AbstractThe study or artificial arms provides a unique opportunity to address long-standing questions on sensorimotor plasticity and development. Learning to use an artificial arm arguably depends on fundamental building blocks of body representation and would therefore be impacted by early-life experience. We tested artificial arm motor-control in two adult populations with upper-limb deficiency: congenital one-handers – who were born with a partial arm, and amputees – who lost their biological arm in adulthood. Brain plasticity research teaches us that the earlier we train to acquire new skills (or use a new technology) the better we benefit from this practice as adults. Instead, we found that although one-hander started using an artificial arm as toddlers, they produced increased error noise and directional errors when reaching to visual targets, relative to amputees who performed similarly to controls. However, the earlier a one-hander was fitted with an artificial arm the better their motor control was. We suggest that visuomotor integration, underlying the observed deficits, is highly dependent on either biological or artificial arm experience at a very young age. Subsequently, opportunities for sensorimotor plasticity become more limited.

scholarly journals Rearing experience with ramps improves specific learning and behaviour and welfare on a commercial laying farm

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Kate I. Norman ◽  
Claire A. Weeks ◽  
John F. Tarlton ◽  
Christine J. Nicol
Keyword(s):  
Early Life ◽  
Life Experience ◽  
Later Life ◽  
Welfare Benefits ◽  
Early Life Experience ◽  
Bone Damage ◽  
Specific Learning

AbstractTo access resources in commercial laying houses hens must move between levels with agility to avoid injury. This study considered whether providing ramps during rear improved the ability of birds to transition between levels. Twelve commercial flocks (2000 birds/flock) on a multi-age site were examined between 1 and 40 weeks of age. All birds had access to elevated perching structures from 4 days of age. Six treatment flocks were also provided with ramps during rear to facilitate access to these structures. Flocks were visited three times during rear and three times at lay to record transitioning behaviour and use of the elevated structures, together with scores for keel bone and feather damage. Ramp reared flocks used the elevated structures to a greater extent at rear (P = 0.001) and at lay, when all flocks had ramps, showed less hesitancy [i.e. pacing (P = 0.002), crouching (P = 0.001) and wing-flapping (P = 0.001)] in accessing levels. Mean levels of keel bone damage were reduced in ramp reared flocks (52%) compared with control flocks (64.8%) at 40 weeks of age (P = 0.028). The early life experience of the ramp reared flocks enabled specific learning that translated and persisted in later life and resulted in overall welfare benefits.

scholarly journals Early-Life Experience, Epigenetics, and the Developing Brain

2014 ◽  
Vol 40 (1) ◽  
pp. 141-153 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marija Kundakovic ◽  
Frances A Champagne
Keyword(s):  
Early Life ◽  
Life Experience ◽  
Developing Brain ◽  
Early Life Experience

scholarly journals Serotonin deficiency alters susceptibility to the long-term consequences of adverse early life experience

2015 ◽  
Vol 53 ◽  
pp. 69-81 ◽  
Author(s):  
Benjamin D. Sachs ◽  
Ramona M. Rodriguiz ◽  
Ha L. Tran ◽  
Akshita Iyer ◽  
William C. Wetsel ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Early Life ◽  
Life Experience ◽  
Early Life Experience ◽  
Serotonin Deficiency ◽  
Long Term Consequences

scholarly journals What does a neuron learn from multisensory experience?

2015 ◽  
Vol 113 (3) ◽  
pp. 883-889 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jinghong Xu ◽  
Liping Yu ◽  
Terrence R. Stanford ◽  
Benjamin A. Rowland ◽  
Barry E. Stein
Keyword(s):  
Superior Colliculus ◽  
Early Life ◽  
Life Experience ◽  
Sensory Experience ◽  
Rearing Environment ◽  
Early Life Experience ◽  
Environmental Events ◽  
Cat Superior Colliculus ◽  
Maturational Process ◽  
Multisensory Experience

The brain's ability to integrate information from different senses is acquired only after extensive sensory experience. However, whether early life experience instantiates a general integrative capacity in multisensory neurons or one limited to the particular cross-modal stimulus combinations to which one has been exposed is not known. By selectively restricting either visual-nonvisual or auditory-nonauditory experience during the first few months of life, the present study found that trisensory neurons in cat superior colliculus (as well as their bisensory counterparts) became adapted to the cross-modal stimulus combinations specific to each rearing environment. Thus, even at maturity, trisensory neurons did not integrate all cross-modal stimulus combinations to which they were capable of responding, but only those that had been linked via experience to constitute a coherent spatiotemporal event. This selective maturational process determines which environmental events will become the most effective targets for superior colliculus-mediated shifts of attention and orientation.

Early life experience drives structural variation of neural genomes in mice

Science ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 359 (6382) ◽  
pp. 1395-1399 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tracy A. Bedrosian ◽  
Carolina Quayle ◽  
Nicole Novaresi ◽  
Fred. H. Gage
Keyword(s):  
Early Life ◽  
Structural Variation ◽  
Life Experience ◽  
Early Life Experience
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