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Dynamic changes in local activity and network interactions among the anterior cingulate, amygdala and cerebellum during associative learning
Journal article   Open access   Peer reviewed

Dynamic changes in local activity and network interactions among the anterior cingulate, amygdala and cerebellum during associative learning

Hunter E. Halverson, Jangjin Kim and John H. Freeman
The Journal of neuroscience, Vol.43(49), pp.8385-8402
12/06/2023
DOI: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.0731-23.2023
PMCID: PMC10711712
PMID: 37852793
url
https://doi.org/10.1523/JNEUROSCI.0731-23.2023View
Published (Version of record) Open Access

Abstract

Communication between the cerebellum and forebrain structures is necessary for motor learning and has been implicated in a variety of cognitive functions. The exact nature of cerebellar-forebrain interactions supporting behavior and cognition is not known. We examined how local and network activity support learning by simultaneously recording neural activity in the cerebellum, amygdala, and anterior cingulate cortex while male and female rats were trained in trace eyeblink conditioning. Initially, the cerebellum and forebrain signal the contingency between external stimuli through increases in theta power and synchrony. Neuronal activity driving expression of the learned response was observed in the cerebellum and became evident in the anterior cingulate and amygdala as learning progressed. Aligning neural activity to the training stimuli or learned response provided a way to differentiate between learning-related activity driven by different mechanisms. Stimulus and response-related increases in theta power and coherence were observed across all three areas throughout learning. However, increases in slow gamma power and coherence were only observed when oscillations were aligned to the cerebellum-driven learned response. Percentage of learned responses, learning-related local activity and slow gamma communication from cerebellum to forebrain all progressively increased during training. The relatively fast frequency of slow gamma provides an ideal mechanism for the cerebellum to communicate learned temporal information to the forebrain. This cerebellar response-aligned slow gamma then provides enrichment of behavior-specific temporal information to local neuronal activity in the forebrain. These dynamic network interactions likely support a wide range of behaviors and cognitive tasks that require coordination between the forebrain and cerebellum. Significance Statement This study presents new evidence for how dynamic learning-related changes in single neurons and neural oscillations in a cerebellar-forebrain network support associative motor learning. The current results provide an integrated mechanism for how bi-directional communication between the cerebellum and forebrain represents important external events and internal neural drive. This bi-directional communication between the cerebellum and forebrain likely supports a wide range of behaviors and cognitive tasks that require temporal precision.

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