Learning a new skill such as riding a bike or playing an instrument takes more than practice.

A new interdisciplinary study at Israel’s Technion demonstrates the restructuring of neural pathways and the release of dopamine as we acquire and develop motor skills.

The new study was led by Dr. Hadas Benisty, Prof. Jackie Schiller, and M.D./Ph.D. student Amir Ghanayim, with contributions from Prof. Ronen Talmon and student Avigail Cohen-Rimon from the Andrew and Erna Viterbi Faculty of Electrical and Computer Engineering.

Acquiring and practicing motor skills begins in the primary motor cortex, a “command center” for voluntary action.

The motor cortex sends signals to the spinal cord, where muscles receive the message and react.

Scientists are familiar with this neural activity, but before this study, the processes that drive these changes were not understood.

The researchers used calcium imaging in mice as well as chemogenetic inhibition techniques – engineered receptors and specific drugs to observe the neural activity in the motor cortex, spine and muscles. They discovered observable changes in neural activity between the beginner, intermediate and advanced stages of learning a task.

The researchers also observed the crucial role that the release of dopamine plays in the motor cortex when learning or developing a skill.

Dopamine alters the connections between neurons originating in the ventral tegmental area (VTA) – a central dopamine hub in the brain to facilitate motor learning.

The study established that dopamine is a crucial signal for neural plasticity in the motor cortex and for learning new skills.

The researchers also discovered that if dopamine is blocked, the subject can use previously learned motor skills but may have difficulty acquiring new ones.

The study can help scientists better understand how we learn and develop motor skills. It may also offer solutions to assist those with Parkinson’s and other conditions in which dopamine production is impaired.

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