Periodic Reporting for period 1 - Learning2Learn (Learning to Learn - Medial Prefrontal Cortex as Meta-Learning System in the Brain)
Reporting period: 2021-04-01 to 2023-03-31
Survival and adaptation to a changing environment is driven by the ability of animals and humans to utilise prior knowledge to quickly learn new behaviours (forward generalisation). However, the mechanism by which the brain combines old information with new input remains elusive. The EU-funded Learning2Learn project aims to elucidate the role of the medial prefrontal cortex in quick adaptation to new situations by forward generalisation. The proposed mechanism is inspired by a theoretical machine-learning framework for artificial neural networks and will be investigated by combining cutting-edge experimental techniques to unveil the brain's learning mechanism. The overall objectives of the project are to understand what information is conveyed from prefrontal cortex to sensory cortices and if and how this promotes forward generalisation.
As part of the project a behavioural paradigm to study forward generalization in mice was designed and implemented. The paradigm was combined with recordings from prefrontal cortex, that will give insight in what information is processed in prefrontal cortex during the task and how the processing changes when the mice learn the task and must forward generalise.
The insight we will gain from the experiments performed in the described project will help us to understand how the brain utilises previous knowledge to quickly adapt to new situations.