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James Ashe, M.D.
Professor, Department of Neuroscience
ashe@umn.edu |
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 Motor Learning and Adaptation.
The primary interest of my laboratory is in motor learning in the most general sense. We are concerned with how we learn regularities in our immediate environment and how this learning is reflected in our actions and behavior. To address these issues, we use psychophysical studies, functional imaging in humans, and direct neural recording from areas in frontal cortex in non-human primates.
Specific Projects:
(1) Motor learning of new dynamic environments. We have been examining the neural control of adaptation and learning in specific physical environments, usually in the form of state dependent force fields. The work focuses on the learning, storage, and consolidation of and interference with internal models of motor behavior.
(2) Neural basis and mechanisms of motor learning in probabilistic environments. We examine how subjects use probabilistic information and predictability in their immediate environment to shape their actions and behavior. The learning behaviors we study range from complex probabilistic patterns to deterministic sequences.
(3) Neural control and learning of serial order. The concept of serial order is fundamental to much of our behavior from basic motor function to language production. We have examined the neural basis of serial order and sequence production in well practiced motor behaviors and also during the learning of these behaviors through trial and error.
(4) The modulation of action through reward. Much of our behavior is shaped by rewards (both external and internal); we have recently begun to examine how reward (and punishment) influences motor learning. Disruption of the reward-action system may be a fundamental problem in some disease conditions such as Parkinsons disease.
(5) Neural control of goals versus actions. In everyday life, we typically decide on goals and then perform the actions to achieve them. We are now studying the system in prefrontal cortex that deals with goals and actions in an effort to understand how these interrelated factors are controlled. |
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Selected Publications |
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Gupta R, Ashe J (2007)
Lack of adaptation to random conflicting force fields of variable magnitude.
Journal of Neurophysiology 97: 738-45
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Chafee MV, Ashe J (2007)
Intelligence in Action.
Nature Neuroscience 10: 142-143 |
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Lungu OV, Liu T, Waechter T, Willingham DT, Ashe J (2007)
Strategic modulation of cognitive control.
Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience 19:1302-15 |
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Keisler A, Ashe J, Willingham DT (2007)
Time of day accounts for overnight improvement in sequence learning.
Learning and Memory 14:669-72 |
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Seidler RD, Ashe J (2007)
Procedural Learning: Cerebellum Models in The New Encyclopedia of Neuroscience (Ed. L Squire). Elsevier |
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Xu D, Liu T, Ashe J, Bushara KO.
Role of the olivo-cerebellar system in timing.
J Neurosci. 2006 May 31;26(22):5990-5. |
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Ashe J, Lungu OV, Basford AT, Lu X.
Cortical control of motor sequences.
Curr Opin Neurobiol. 2006 Apr;16(2):213-21. Epub 2006 Mar 24. Review. |
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Boline J, Ashe J.
On the relations between single cell activity in the motor cortex and the direction and magnitude of three-dimensional dynamic isometric force.
Exp Brain Res. 2005 Nov;167(2):148-59. Epub 2005 Nov 15. |
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Lu X, Ashe J (2005) Anticipatory activity in primary motor cortex codes for upcoming movement sequences. Neuron 24:967-73 |
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Lungu OV,Wächter T, Liu T, Willingham DB, Ashe J (2004) Probability detection mechanisms and motor learning. Experimental Brain Research 159:135-50 |
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Ashe J (2004) What is coded in the primary motor cortex. In: Motor Cortex in Voluntary Movements (Riehle A, Vaadia E, eds.), Baton Rouge, CRC Press, pp 141-156 |
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Fukushi T, Ashe J (2003) Adaptation of arm trajectory during continuous drawing movements in different dynamic environments. Experimental Brain Research 148: 95-104 |
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Seidler RD, Purushotham A, Kim S-G, Ugurbil K, Willingham D, Ashe J (2002) Cerebellum activation associated with performance change but not motor learning. Science 296: 2043-2046 |
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