Mount Sinai study of rodents may help researchers understand the circuitry underlying Parkinson’s disease, schizophrenia, addiction, and other brain disorders.
Imagine working on your computer and typing the same long password you have used for years to access your email. By habit, you perform this sequence almost unconsciously. But then, one day, you stumble upon a shortcut. It’s faster but involves learning and remembering a new set of keystrokes.
In a study of rodents, scientists at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai discovered that a part of the brain traditionally thought to control typing the old sequence may also play a critical role in learning the new one. The results suggest that this process involves a delicate balance in the activity of two neighboring neural circuits: one dedicated to new actions and the other to old habits.
“For years scientists thought that habits and learning new, rewarding actions were most likely controlled by different parts of the brain. Surprisingly, we found that a brain area traditionally thought to specialize in the expression of old habits may also help the brain learn new actions,” said Paul J. Kenny, PhD, the Ward-Coleman Professor and Chair of the Nash Family Department of Neuroscience at Mount Sinai and the senior author of the paper. “Ultimately, we hope that these results provide new insights into the brain cells and circuits which underlie a variety of disorders that involve abnormalities in how our actions are controlled, including Parkinson’s disease and drug addiction.”
