Study: Science can detect differences between 'novice' and 'expert'

A new study by the researchers from Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory at Columbia University reveals that the neuron activity in brain changes when the human learns something. It can be proven by science if the person is an 'expert' or a 'novice' just by studying the cellular activity inside their brains. The study was conducted on mice where it was noticed that neuron activities become more focussed as the mice get better while performing a trained task. The authors of the study used the data to create models that can inform the understanding of the neuroscience behind the ability to make decisions. 

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According to the Associate professor at CSHL, Anne Churchland said that the researchers recorded the activity from hundreds of neurons simultaneously and studied the change of behaviour in neurons when the human learns something. The research team had started the project by training mice on perception-based decision-making tasks and were also given multi-sensory stimuli in forms of clicks and flashes presented at the same time. The mice were supposed to tell the authors of the study that the decision making was happening at a greater rate of low by licking one of three water sprouts in front of them. Whenever mice made the correct decision, they were awarded a treat.

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Other discoveries in the study 

Most decision-making studies focussed on the period where the animals are really experts, but one of the senior authors of the study said that the team was able to see how mice arrive at the state by measuring the neurons in their brain with learning. The study also disclosed that in all animals, it takes nearly four weeks to learn something and the neurons become more selective in responding to an activity which is related with a particular task and therefore they start reacting faster. 

Moreover, when the animals are just at the initial stage of learning, the neurons remain unresponsive until the time they make their own choice. However, as the animal starts to gain expertise, the neurons react much further in advance. The study also helped the researchers to learn a lot about perceptual-decision-making and how long it takes to make certain decisions and how neuron activity changes. 

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(With agency inputs)