Using optogenetics to study habits
It is now well documented that optogenetics brings to neuroscience a long sought-after foothold to study the causal role of millisecond-scale activity of genetically or anatomically defined populations of neurons. Progress is rapid, and, as evidenced by the work collected in this Special Issue, the...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | en_US |
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Elsevier
2016
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/102222 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4326-7720 |
| _version_ | 1826213223643217920 |
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| author | Smith, Kyle S. Graybiel, Ann M. |
| author2 | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences |
| author_facet | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences Smith, Kyle S. Graybiel, Ann M. |
| author_sort | Smith, Kyle S. |
| collection | MIT |
| description | It is now well documented that optogenetics brings to neuroscience a long sought-after foothold to study the causal role of millisecond-scale activity of genetically or anatomically defined populations of neurons. Progress is rapid, and, as evidenced by the work collected in this Special Issue, the possibilities of what can now be done are almost dizzying. Even for those concerned with complex phenomena, such as behavioral habits and flexibility, signs are that we could be on the threshold of a leap in scientific understanding. Here. we note this special time in neuroscience by the example of our use of optogenetics to study habitual behavior. We present a basic sketch of the neural circuitry of habitual behavior built mainly on findings from experiments in which lesion and drug microinjection techniques were employed in combination with sophisticated behavioral analysis. We then outline the types of questions that now can be approached through the use of optogenetic approaches, and, as an example, we summarize the results of a recent study of ours in which we took this approach to probe the neural basis of habit formation. With optogenetic methods, we were able to demonstrate that a small site in the medial prefrontal cortex can control habits on-line during their execution, and we were able to control new habits when they competed with prior ones. The nearly immediate effect of disabling this site optogenetically suggests the existence of a mechanism for moment-to-moment monitoring of behaviors that long have been thought to be almost automatic and reflexive. This example highlights the kind of new knowledge that can be gained by the carefully timed use of optogenetic tools. |
| first_indexed | 2024-09-23T15:45:44Z |
| format | Article |
| id | mit-1721.1/102222 |
| institution | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| language | en_US |
| last_indexed | 2024-09-23T15:45:44Z |
| publishDate | 2016 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | mit-1721.1/1022222022-09-29T15:59:26Z Using optogenetics to study habits Smith, Kyle S. Graybiel, Ann M. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences McGovern Institute for Brain Research at MIT Smith, Kyle S. Graybiel, Ann M. It is now well documented that optogenetics brings to neuroscience a long sought-after foothold to study the causal role of millisecond-scale activity of genetically or anatomically defined populations of neurons. Progress is rapid, and, as evidenced by the work collected in this Special Issue, the possibilities of what can now be done are almost dizzying. Even for those concerned with complex phenomena, such as behavioral habits and flexibility, signs are that we could be on the threshold of a leap in scientific understanding. Here. we note this special time in neuroscience by the example of our use of optogenetics to study habitual behavior. We present a basic sketch of the neural circuitry of habitual behavior built mainly on findings from experiments in which lesion and drug microinjection techniques were employed in combination with sophisticated behavioral analysis. We then outline the types of questions that now can be approached through the use of optogenetic approaches, and, as an example, we summarize the results of a recent study of ours in which we took this approach to probe the neural basis of habit formation. With optogenetic methods, we were able to demonstrate that a small site in the medial prefrontal cortex can control habits on-line during their execution, and we were able to control new habits when they competed with prior ones. The nearly immediate effect of disabling this site optogenetically suggests the existence of a mechanism for moment-to-moment monitoring of behaviors that long have been thought to be almost automatic and reflexive. This example highlights the kind of new knowledge that can be gained by the carefully timed use of optogenetic tools. National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (Grant R01 MH060379) National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (Grant F32 MH085454) Stanley H. and Sheila G. Sydney Fund 2016-04-08T16:37:10Z 2016-04-08T16:37:10Z 2013-01 Article http://purl.org/eprint/type/JournalArticle 00068993 http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/102222 Smith, Kyle S., and Ann M. Graybiel. “Using Optogenetics to Study Habits.” Brain Research 1511 (May 2013): 102–114. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4326-7720 en_US http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.brainres.2013.01.008 Brain Research Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-NoDerivatives http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ application/pdf Elsevier PMC |
| spellingShingle | Smith, Kyle S. Graybiel, Ann M. Using optogenetics to study habits |
| title | Using optogenetics to study habits |
| title_full | Using optogenetics to study habits |
| title_fullStr | Using optogenetics to study habits |
| title_full_unstemmed | Using optogenetics to study habits |
| title_short | Using optogenetics to study habits |
| title_sort | using optogenetics to study habits |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/102222 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4326-7720 |
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