Wong Research

Wong AL, Green AL, Isaacs MW. Motor plans under uncertainty reflect a trade-off between maximizing reward and success. eNeuro 9(2): 1-15, 2022. Preprint: bioRxiv 469448.

When faced with multiple movement options, individuals must resolve several decisions including which option is preferred and what movement strategy should be used to resolve task uncertainty. Here we showed that these decisions interact, and are dependent in part on an individual’s risk/reward sensitivity.        

Wong AL, Jax SA, Buxbaum LJ, Krakauer JW. Movement imitation via an abstract trajectory representation in dorsal premotor cortex. J Neurosci 39: 3320-3331, 2019. Preprint: bioRxiv 294207.

Although praxis movements like imitation and tool-use have been studied for over a century, the motor planning processes underlying these movements remain unclear. Here we showed that imitation may be supported by the ability to represent the shape of the desired movement path in space (i.e., its trajectory), that individuals with limb apraxia are impaired at representing trajectories for imitation, and that this impairment appeared to be associated with lesions in the dorsal premotor cortex.

Wong AL, Marvel CL, Taylor JA, Krakauer JW. Can patients with cerebellar disease switch learning mechanisms to reduce their adaptation deficits? Brain 142: 662-673, 2019. Preprint: bioRxiv 386466. 

Individuals with cerebellar degeneration are known to have difficulties learning to adapt their movements; recent work has suggested that these individuals may also have an impaired ability to form compensatory aiming strategies. In this paper we showed that this apparent aiming deficit comes not from a cognitive impairment per se, but from an inability to distinguish whether errors are self-generated or should be attributed to the environment. Helping these individuals resolve this credit assignment problem allowed them to develop appropriate aiming strategies and perform as well as neurotypical controls.

Krakauer JW, Hadjiosif A, Xu J, Wong AL, Haith AM. Motor Learning. Compr Physiol. 9: 613-663, 2019.

Motor learning is a broad term referring to a number of underlying processes that affect and modify behavior. In this comprehensive review, we discussed what is currently known about these processes and the paradigms used to study them, and we highlighted some key questions that remain unresolved in the field.