Our lab studies how the brain learns to generate skilled actions. We focus on procedural learning and motor control, particularly in reaction-time and self-timed behaviors. Using chronic Neuropixels recordings in freely moving rats, we track neural dynamics in cortical and basal ganglia circuits over weeks to months as animals learn new tasks, adapt to changing task structure, and recover from brain injury. Our goal is to understand how these circuits support learning, behavioral flexibility, motor control, and rehabilitation.
Our research employs multiple behavioral paradigms to uncover how multiple brain areas collectively learn and produce single behaviors—a 'one behavior, multiple brain structures' approach. We also investigate how individual brain regions contribute to related actions with shared underlying structures, such as reactive responses involving lever release or poke-out.
See examples here:
Operant box: https://youtu.be/FS96rA9onX8
Shuttling maze: https://youtu.be/sCj9ZE06ys8
We believe that behavioral studies should precede neural recordings. Towards this end, we have developed several perturbation strategies to examine the role of specific brain regions in behavior.
We use chronic recordings with silicon probes, including Neuropixels probes, to monitor the activity of large neuron populations over days and weeks—often tracking the same neurons—during both stable behavioral performance and learning.
See an example here: https://youtu.be/tzxtNY9HsgE
Contact
Room 307, Lui Che Woo Building (吕志和楼)Peking University