Most of our motor skills are not innately programmed, but are learned by a combination of
motor exploration and performance evaluation, suggesting that they proceed through a …

The acquisition of complex motor sequences often proceeds through trial-and-error learning,
requiring the deliberate exploration of motor actions and the concomitant evaluation of the …

The pallido-recipient thalamus transmits information from the basal ganglia to the cortex and
is critical for motor initiation and learning. Thalamic activity is strongly inhibited by pallidal …

We pulsed the activation of neurons using a femtosecond laser. Pyramidal neurons are
depolarized and fire action potentials when high intensity mode‐locked infrared light irradiates …

Calcium (Ca 2+ ) influx through NMDA receptors (NMDARs) is essential for synaptogenesis,
experience-dependent synaptic remodeling and plasticity. The NMDAR-mediated rise in …

Many behaviors are learned through trial and error by matching performance to internal
goals. Yet neural mechanisms of performance evaluation remain poorly understood. We …

Dendritic spines receive excitatory synapses and serve as calcium compartments, which
appear to be necessary for input-specific synaptic plasticity. Dendrites of GABAergic …

The basal ganglia (BG)-recipient thalamus controls motor output but it remains unclear how
its activity is regulated. Several studies report that thalamic activation occurs via disinhibition …

In this second study, we have combined two‐photon calcium imaging with whole‐cell
recording and anatomic reconstructions to directly characterize synaptically evoked calcium …

Interneuronal networks in neocortex underlie feedforward and feedback inhibition and control
the temporal organization of pyramidal cell activity. We previously found that lower layer …