Elucidation of physiological mechanisms underlying modification of habitual movements and development of a new training method for fixing habits

2018 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 16K12973
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Developmental mechanisms and the body works
• Research Institution: Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University
• Principal Investigator: Aoki Sho 沖縄科学技術大学院大学, 神経生物学研究ユニット, 研究員 (80720672)
• Project Period (FY): 2016-04-01 – 2019-03-31
• Keywords: 線条体 / 動作の癖

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Those who are in the field of sports including athletes and coaches often struggle to fix habits in their actions and movements. The aim of this study is to understand neurophysiological mechanisms underlying the inhibition and modification of habitual actions. Developing new behavioral tasks in rats, where they had to suppress or replace their acquired habits with new actions, we tested the effect of either ablation or activation of striatal cholinergic interneurons on these tasks. We discovered that artificial activation of the striatal cholinergic interneurons enhances animals' ability to substitute a new movement for an old habit (Aoki et al., Eur J Neurosci., 2018). This finding reveals a possibility that facilitating cholinergic activity in the striatum enables us to acquire a new action by suppressing an old habit.

Free Research Field

行動神経科学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

動作の癖を他の動作に置換するという概念は新しく、かつその神経基盤として線条体コリン作動性介在ニューロンの機能を明らかにできたことは行動神経科学分野における重要な知見である。また、スポーツ科学・身体運動科学分野において、どのようにして体に染みついた動きの癖を直すのかという問いは難問である。今後、ヒトを対象とした新規トレーニングの開発といった研究に対して、本研究はどのような脳部位あるいは細胞の活性化を狙ってトレーニングを行うべきかという重要知見を与えると考えられる。