# Instructive Signals for Motor Learning

> **NIH NIH R01** · STANFORD UNIVERSITY · 2022 · $621,539

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY
Meta-learning refers to the ability to learn to learn. Whereas much progress has been made in understanding
the neural mechanisms of learning, the neural mechanisms of meta-learning are a mystery. This project will
investigate a candidate synaptic mechanism of meta-learning. Using integrated molecular, cellular, systems, and
behavioral neuroscience approaches, the proposed research will test the hypothesis that the timing rules
governing synaptic plasticity are themselves learned. Preliminary results suggest that the timing rules for
associative synaptic plasticity in the cerebellum can be adaptively tuned though experience to solve what
theorists have called the temporal credit assignment problem, precisely compensating for delays in the feedback
about behavioral errors, so that only synapses that were active around the time that an error was generated
undergo weakening during learning. If confirmed, this would represent a new dimension of the algorithms that
neural circuits use to tune their own performance through experience, with broad scientific and clinical
implications.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10444549
- **Project number:** 2R01NS072406-11
- **Recipient organization:** STANFORD UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Jennifer L Raymond
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2022
- **Award amount:** $621,539
- **Award type:** 2
- **Project period:** 2010-09-01 → 2027-03-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10444549

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10444549, Instructive Signals for Motor Learning (2R01NS072406-11). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10444549. Licensed CC0.

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