Yasuo's interest is in the neural basis of learning and memory. His main questions include which brain area is involved in acquiring new information and how the newly learned information is stored by neurons. Humans often perform the same motor action and behavioral procedure repeatedly, and these acts become so routine that we carry them out almost without conscious effort. He has tried to discover the forms of neural representation underlying this habit learning mediated by the striatum and its related neural circuitry.
In a landmark study, Yasuo was a part of a research team that chronically recorded the ensemble activity of 30-50 striatal neurons in the freely moving rats during acquisition and performance of a procedural learning task in a T-maze with multiple tetrodes (electrodes with four recording channels). They found striking changes in the task-related responses of neurons in the sensorimotor region of the striatum. At the beginning of training, many neurons in this area increased their firing frequencies during turning at the choice point of the maze. However, with training, units showing the turn-related response decreased significantly. Instead, there were significant increases in units that increased or decreased discharges in relation to the opening of the start-gate or initiation of locomotion (start-related response) and to reaching the goal area (goal-related response).
These results suggest that the neural representation of behaviors necessary to perform this learning task undergoes transformation during acquisition, and that the new pattern of representation that develops as a result of learning emphasizes the beginning and the end of the automatized behavioral procedure.
Yasuo now key support for a number of lab activities, including manuscript preparation, grant proposals, progress reports and various aspects of lab management.
Email: [email protected]
In a landmark study, Yasuo was a part of a research team that chronically recorded the ensemble activity of 30-50 striatal neurons in the freely moving rats during acquisition and performance of a procedural learning task in a T-maze with multiple tetrodes (electrodes with four recording channels). They found striking changes in the task-related responses of neurons in the sensorimotor region of the striatum. At the beginning of training, many neurons in this area increased their firing frequencies during turning at the choice point of the maze. However, with training, units showing the turn-related response decreased significantly. Instead, there were significant increases in units that increased or decreased discharges in relation to the opening of the start-gate or initiation of locomotion (start-related response) and to reaching the goal area (goal-related response).
These results suggest that the neural representation of behaviors necessary to perform this learning task undergoes transformation during acquisition, and that the new pattern of representation that develops as a result of learning emphasizes the beginning and the end of the automatized behavioral procedure.
Yasuo now key support for a number of lab activities, including manuscript preparation, grant proposals, progress reports and various aspects of lab management.
Email: [email protected]