For the brain, context is key to new theory of movement and memory | University of Cambridge

Tennis match Credit: Chino Rocha via Unsplash Mathematical model could help in physical therapy and shed light on learning more generally. The COIN model may also generalise to many other forms of learning and memory, not just memories underlying our movement Máté Lengyel How is it that a chef can control their knife to fillet a fish or peel a grape and can wield a cleaver just as efficiently as a paring knife? Even those of us less proficient in the kitchen learn to skilfully handle an astonishing number of different objects throughout our lives, from shoelaces to tennis rackets. This ability to continuously acquire new skills, without forgetting or degrading old ones, comes naturally to humans but is a major challenge even for today's most advanced artificial intelligence systems. Now, scientists from the and Columbia University have developed and experimentally verified a new mathematical theory that explains how the human brain achieves this feat. Called the COntextual INference (COIN) model, it suggests that identifying the current context is key to learning how to move our bodies. The model describes a mechanism in the brain that is constantly trying to figure out the current context. The theory suggests that these continuously changing beliefs about context determine how to use existing memories - and whether to form new ones.