洛克菲勒大学Winrich A. Freiwald团队近日取得一项新成果。经过不懈努力，他们的研究开发出了灵长类动物额叶皮层动作符号的神经表征。2026年5月20日出版的《自然》发表了这项成果。

在这里，该课题组研究人员确定了一个神经群，它在额叶皮层的特定区域编码动作符号——运动行为离散单元的可重组表征。在执行类似绘画任务的猕猴中，研究组发现了行为证据，表明动作元素（笔画）表现出三个关键特征，表明潜在的符号表征：(1)低水平运动参数的不变性；(2)范畴结构，反映离散的动作类型；(3)重组成新的序列。基于运动、前运动和前额叶皮层8个区域的同时神经记录，课题组研究人员确定了腹侧前运动皮层的群体活动，该区域以一种反映不变性、分类结构和重组的方式编码计划动作。这些发现揭示了位于腹侧运动前皮层的动作符号的神经表征和符号操作的假定神经基质。

据介绍，智力的一个标志是能够熟练地解决新问题，包括那些与以前看到的问题有很大不同的问题。问题的解决反过来又依赖于目标导向的新想法和行为的产生，这涉及到离散单元（或符号）的内部表示，这些表示可以重新组合成许多可能的复合表示。尽管这一观点在行为的认知层面解释中很有影响力，但关于符号的神经元基质的明确证据仍然缺乏。

附：英文原文

Title: Neural representation of action symbols in primate frontal cortex

Author: Tian, Lucas Y., Garzn Gupta, Kedar, Hanuska, Daniel J., Rouse, Adam G., Eldridge, Mark A. G., Schieber, Marc H., Wang, Xiao-Jing, Tenenbaum, Joshua B., Freiwald, Winrich A.

Issue&Volume: 2026-05-20

Abstract: A hallmark of intelligence is proficiency in solving new problems, including those that substantially differ from previously seen problems. Problem solving in turn depends on the goal-directed generation of novel ideas and behaviours1, which has been proposed to involve internal representations of discrete units (or symbols) that can be recombined into numerous possible composite representations1,2,3,4,5,6,7. Although this view has been influential in cognitive-level explanations of behaviour, definitive evidence for a neuronal substrate of symbols has remained elusive. Here we identify a neural population that encodes action symbols—recombinable representations of discrete units of motor behaviour—in a specific area of the frontal cortex. In macaque monkeys performing a drawing-like task, we found behavioural evidence that action elements (strokes) exhibit three crucial features that indicate an underlying symbolic representation: (1) invariance over low-level motor parameters; (2) categorical structure, which reflects discrete action types; and (3) recombination into novel sequences. Based on simultaneous neural recordings across eight regions of the motor, premotor and prefrontal cortex, we identified population activity specifically in the ventral premotor cortex that encodes planned actions in a manner that also reflects invariance, categorical structure and recombination. These findings reveal a neural representation of action symbols localized to the ventral premotor cortex and a putative neural substrate for symbolic operations.

DOI: 10.1038/s41586-026-10297-x

Source: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-026-10297-x