In search of the engram, 2017
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
4-1-2018
Journal
Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences
Volume
20
First Page
56
Last Page
60
URL with Digital Object Identifier
10.1016/j.cobeha.2017.11.003
Abstract
Based on evidence from lesion and imaging studies, some authors have suggested that the ‘motor engram’ — a representation underlying skillful behavior — becomes more localized with learning. We critically review the evidence in favor of this view pointing out several caveats with the interpretation, most of which have been raised in Karl Lashley's classical paper from 1950. We argue that motor skills are likely not stored in a single area, but are instead encoded across multiple representations in both cortical and subcortical areas. To better understand these distributed neural changes with learning, we need a richer description of skilled performance and testable process models of skill acquisition.