A Brain System for Procedural Memory
Researchers have divided procedural memory into two general types. One type involves the acquisition of habits and skills, the capacity for a very broad variety of stereotyped and unconscious behavioral repertoires. The other type of procedural memory involves specific sensory-to-motor adaptations, that is, adjustments of reflexes, such as changing the force exerted to compensate for a new load, or acquisition of conditioned reflexes that involve novel motor responses to a new sensory contingency. This chapter analyzes the brain systems that support these two types of unconscious learning. It shows that procedural learning is mediated by a complex circuitry involving the motor cortical areas and two main subcortical loops, one through the striatum and another through the cerebellum.
Keywords: learning, procedural memory, striatal habit subsystem, striatum, cerebellum
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