Continuous auditory feedback promotes fine motor skill learning in mice.

Abstract

Motor skill learning enables organisms to interact effectively with their environment, relying on neural mechanisms that integrate sensory feedback with motor output. While sensory feedback, such as auditory cues linked to motor actions, enhances motor performance in humans, its mechanism of action is poorly understood. Developing a reliable animal model of augmented motor skill learning is crucial to begin dissects the biological systems that underpin this enhancement. We hypothesized that continuous auditory feedback during a motor task would promote complex motor skill acquisition in mice. We developed a closed-loop system using DeepLabCut for real-time markerless tracking of mouse forepaw movements with high processing speed and low latency. By encoding forepaw movements into auditory tones of different frequencies, mice received continuous auditory feedback during a reaching task requiring vertical displacement of the left forepaw to a target. Adult mice were trained over four days with either auditory feedback or no feedback. Mice receiving auditory feedback exhibited significantly enhanced motor skill learning compared to controls. Clustering analysis of reaching trajectories showed that auditory feedback mice established consistent reaching trajectories by Day 2 of motor training. These findings demonstrate that real-time, movement-coded auditory feedback effectively promotes motor skill learning in mice. This closed-loop system, leveraging advanced machine learning and real-time tracking, offers new avenues for exploring motor control mechanisms and developing therapeutic strategies for motor disorders through augmented sensory feedback.Significance Statement Enhancing motor skill learning can greatly improve therapeutic options for patients suffering from motor disorders. Our study demonstrates that continuous, movement-coded auditory feedback markedly accelerates complex motor skill acquisition in mice. By providing real-time auditory cues linked to specific forepaw movements through a closed-loop system-without the need for invasive markers-this approach offers a novel method for investigating the neural mechanisms of motor learning in neuroscience. It also opens new avenues for developing therapeutic strategies for motor function rehabilitation.