Search research articles

ABOUT JoVE

Overview Leadership Blog JoVE Help Center

AUTHORS

Publishing Process Editorial Board Scope & Policies Peer Review FAQ Submit

LIBRARIANS

Testimonials Subscriptions Access Resources Library Advisory Board FAQ

RESEARCH

JoVE Journal Methods Collections JoVE Encyclopedia of Experiments Archive

EDUCATION

JoVE Core JoVE Business JoVE Science Education JoVE Lab Manual Faculty Resource Center Faculty Site

Terms & Conditions of Use

Related Concept Videos

Indirect Motor Pathways

Indirect Motor Pathways

The indirect motor or extrapyramidal pathways originate in the brainstem, the lower portion of the brain that connects it to the spinal cord. They consist of several distinct tracts, each with specialized functions. The four main tracts of the indirect motor pathways are the vestibulospinal tract, the reticulospinal tract, the tectospinal tract, and the rubrospinal tract.
The vestibulospinal tract originates in the vestibular nuclei of the brainstem. The vestibular system detects changes in...

Diencephalon: Thalamus and Information Relay

Diencephalon: Thalamus and Information Relay

The thalamus, often called “the gateway to the cerebral cortex,” is vital in processing and directing sensory and motor signals throughout the brain. Almost all inputs destined for the cerebral cortex, except for olfactory signals, are relayed through the thalamus. The thalamus is a sophisticated relay station, channeling information from various brain regions to the cerebral cortex, as well as a filter, prioritizing certain signals over others based on current physiological...

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by

Same author

Distributed control circuits across a brain-and-cord connectome.

Nature·2026

Same author

Navigation circuits: Calcium spikes know which way the wind blows.

Current biology : CB·2026

Same author

Octopamine instructs head direction plasticity.

bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology·2025

Same author

Distributed control circuits across a brain-and-cord connectome.

bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology·2025

Same author

Multimodal cue integration and learning in a neural representation of head direction.

Nature neuroscience·2025

Same author

Neural circuit mechanisms for steering control in walking <i>Drosophila</i>.

eLife·2025

Search research articles

Related Experiment Video

Updated: Aug 19, 2025

Rating L-DOPA-Induced Dyskinesias in the Unilaterally 6-OHDA-Lesioned Rat Model of Parkinson's Disease

Rating L-DOPA-Induced Dyskinesias in the Unilaterally 6-OHDA-Lesioned Rat Model of Parkinson's Disease

Published on: October 4, 2021

Dopamine promotes head direction plasticity during orienting movements.

Yvette E Fisher^1,2,3, Michael Marquis¹, Isabel D'Alessandro¹

¹Department of Neurobiology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.

|November 30, 2022

Summary

Dopamine signals in flies help update spatial maps during movement. This mechanism allows for faster learning when new information is available, protecting stored memories.

More Related Videos

Methods to Explore the Influence of Top-down Visual Processes on Motor Behavior

Methods to Explore the Influence of Top-down Visual Processes on Motor Behavior

Published on: April 16, 2014

Human Neural Organoids for Studying Brain Cancer and Neurodegenerative Diseases

Human Neural Organoids for Studying Brain Cancer and Neurodegenerative Diseases

Published on: June 28, 2019

Related Experiment Videos

Last Updated: Aug 19, 2025

Rating L-DOPA-Induced Dyskinesias in the Unilaterally 6-OHDA-Lesioned Rat Model of Parkinson's Disease

Rating L-DOPA-Induced Dyskinesias in the Unilaterally 6-OHDA-Lesioned Rat Model of Parkinson's Disease

Published on: October 4, 2021

Methods to Explore the Influence of Top-down Visual Processes on Motor Behavior

Methods to Explore the Influence of Top-down Visual Processes on Motor Behavior

Published on: April 16, 2014

Human Neural Organoids for Studying Brain Cancer and Neurodegenerative Diseases

Human Neural Organoids for Studying Brain Cancer and Neurodegenerative Diseases

Published on: June 28, 2019

Area of Science:

Neuroscience
Computational Neuroscience
Animal Behavior

Background:

Neural networks face a sensitivity-stability tradeoff: plasticity is needed for learning but can corrupt information.
A 'when-to-learn' signal could optimize learning by gating plasticity to periods of rich information intake.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate if dopamine acts as a 'when-to-learn' signal in the Drosophila head direction network.
To understand how dopamine influences spatial map updates during movement.

Main Methods:

Recorded activity of dopamine neurons in the Drosophila head direction network during turning behaviors.
Manipulated dopamine neuron activity to assess its role in learning visual cue associations.
Measured the impact of dopamine on the influence of visual cues on head direction cells.

Main Results:

Dopamine neuron activity in Drosophila specifically increased during head direction turns and scaled with rotational speed.
Dopamine release strengthened the association between visual cues and head direction cells.
Inhibiting dopamine neurons reduced the influence of visual cues on spatial orientation.

Conclusions:

Dopamine acts as a 'when-to-learn' signal, gating spatial map updates to periods of movement and rich information intake.
This mechanism optimizes learning by enabling high learning rates during movement and low rates during rest, preserving stored information.
The findings reveal a strategy for compressing spatial learning into discrete, information-rich epochs.