News Finding: For example, a trained pianist can learn a new melody easier than learning how to hit a tennis serve.
Paper Finding: Here we show that the animals could readily learn to proficiently control the cursor using neural activity patterns that were within the intrinsic manifold.
News Context: For example, a trained pianist can learn a new melody easier than learning how to hit a tennis serve. As reported in Nature, the researchers found for the first time that there are limitations on how adaptable the brain is during learning and that these restrictions are a key determinant for whether a new skill will be easy or difficult to learn. Understanding how the brain's activity can be "flexed" during learning could eventually be used to develop better treatments for stroke and other brain injuries.
Paper Context: The intrinsic manifold presumably reflects constraints imposed by the underlying neural circuitry. Here we show that the animals could readily learn to proficiently control the cursor using neural activity patterns that were within the intrinsic manifold. However, animals were less able to learn to proficiently control the cursor using activity patterns that were outside of the intrinsic manifold.