加拿大韦仕敦大学J. Andrew Pruszynski课题组取得一项新突破。他们开发出感觉期望塑造运动回路中的神经种群动态。该项研究成果发表在2025年10月29日出版的《自然》上。

由于这种干扰通常是可预测的，并且由于对干扰的准备会使运动更精确，该课题组人员假设对感觉输入的预期也会影响运动回路的准备活动。

在这里，研究小组表明，当人类或猴子得到关于未来机械扰动方向的概率提示时，它们将感官期望纳入其运动准备中，并改善其纠正反应。利用高密度的神经记录，该课题组研究人员确定了感觉期望在整个大脑中广泛存在，包括参与准备自我启动行为的运动皮质区域。这些预备信号在神经种群状态下的几何形状很简单，并直接与每个扰动方向的概率成比例。在扰动开始后，一个与条件无关的信号改变了神经状态，导致最初反映感官期望的快速反应。通过将神经网络与手臂的生物力学模型相结合，课题组发现，在确定扰动的方向之前，只有当感官输入信号表明扰动已经发生时，这种神经几何结构才会出现。它们作为预备活动为自我发起的运动奠定了基础，也配置了运动回路，以有效地响应感官输入。

据介绍，在自我启动的动作中，运动准备的神经基础已被广泛研究，其中运动皮层活动在准备过程中显示出与后续动作参数的合法关系。然而，运动是有规律地在身体受到干扰的感觉输入的基础上触发或纠正的。

附：英文原文

Title: Sensory expectations shape neural population dynamics in motor circuits

Author: Michaels, Jonathan A., Kashefi, Mehrdad, Zheng, Jack, Codol, Olivier, Weiler, Jeffrey, Kersten, Rhonda, Lau, Jonathan C., Gribble, Paul L., Diedrichsen, Jrn, Pruszynski, J. Andrew

Issue&Volume: 2025-10-29

Abstract: The neural basis of movement preparation has been extensively studied during self-initiated actions, in which motor cortical activity during preparation shows a lawful relationship to the parameters of the subsequent action1,2. However, movements are regularly triggered or corrected on the basis of sensory inputs caused by disturbances to the body. Since such disturbances are often predictable, and since preparing for disturbances would make movements more prescise, we hypothesized that expectations about sensory inputs also influence preparatory activity in motor circuits. Here we show that when humans or monkeys are probabilistically cued about the direction of future mechanical perturbations, they incorporate sensory expectations into their movement preparation and improve their corrective responses. Using high-density neural recordings, we establish that sensory expectations are widespread across the brain, including the motor cortical areas involved in preparing self-initiated actions. The geometry of these preparatory signals in the neural population state is simple, and scales directly with the probability of each perturbation direction. After perturbation onset, a condition-independent signal shifts the neural state leading to rapid responses that initially reflect sensory expectations. Using neural networks coupled to a biomechanical model of the arm3, we show that this neural geometry emerges only when sensory inputs signal that a perturbation has occurred, before resolving the direction of the perturbation. Thus, just as preparatory activity sets the stage for self-initiated movement, it also configures motor circuits to respond efficiently to sensory inputs.

DOI: 10.1038/s41586-025-09690-9

Source: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-025-09690-9