Motor skill learning involves a complex process of generating novel movement patterns guided by evaluative feedback, such as a reward. Previous literature has suggested anteroposteriorly separated circuits in the striatum to be implicated in early goal-directed and later automatic stages of motor skill learning, respectively. However, the involvement of these circuits has not been well elucidated in human de novo motor skill learning, which requires learning arbitrary action–outcome associations and value-based action selection. To investigate this issue, we conducted a human functional MRI (fMRI) experiment in which participants learned to control a computer cursor by manipulating their right fingers. We discovered a double dissociation of fMRI activity in the anterior and posterior caudate nucleus, which was associated with performance in the early and late learning stages. Moreover, cognitive and sensorimotor cortico-caudate interactions predicted individual learning performance. Our results suggest parallel cortico-caudate networks operating in different stages of human de novo motor skill learning.

运动技能学习涉及一个复杂的过程，该过程会生成一种新的运动模式，该运动模式由诸如奖励之类的评估反馈来指导。先前的文献建议纹状体前后分开的电路分别牵涉到早期目标导向的运动技能学习的自动阶段。但是，从头开始还没有很好地阐明这些回路的参与 运动技能学习，这需要学习任意的行动－结果关联和基于价值的行动选择。为了调查这个问题，我们进行了一项人类功能性MRI（fMRI）实验，参与者学会了通过操纵右手指来控制计算机光标。我们发现前尾核和后尾核中fMRI活性双重解离，这与早期和晚期学习阶段的表现有关。此外，认知和感觉运动皮层-尾状的相互作用预测了个体的学习表现。我们的研究结果表明，在人类从头 运动技能学习的不同阶段，存在平行的皮质尾状网络。