One Week of Motor Adaptation Induces Structural Changes in Primary Motor Cortex That Predict Long-Term Memory One Year Later

Abstract

The neural bases of motor adaptation have been extensively explored in human and non-human primates. A network including the cerebellum, primary motor and the posterior parietal cortex appears to be crucial for this type of learning. Yet, to date, it is unclear whether these regions contribute directly or indirectly to the formation of motor memories. Here we trained subjects on a complex visuomotor rotation associated with long-term memory (in the order of months) to identify potential sites of structural plasticity induced by adaptation. One week of training led to i) an increment in local gray-matter concentration over the hand area of the contralateral primary motor cortex and ii) an increase in fractional anisotropy in an area underneath this region that correlated with the speed of learning. Moreover, the change in gray matter concentration measured immediately after training predicted improvements in the speed of learning during re-adaptation one year later. Our study suggests that motor adaptation induces structural plasticity in primary motor circuits. In addition, it provides the first piece of evidence indicating that early structural changes induced by motor learning may impact on behavior up to one year after training.

Effects of tDCS on motor learning and memory formation: A consensus and critical position paper

“…Motor skill learning and adaptation are associated with functional and structural changes to a distributed brain network that includes primary motor (M1) and somatosensory (S1), dorsal (PMd) and ventral premotor (PMv), supplementary motor (SMA) and posterior parietal cortex (PPC), as well as the cerebellum and basal ganglia (Landi, Baguear, & Della-Maggiore, 2011;Scholz, Klein, Behrens, & Johansen-Berg, 2009). Thus, several candidate brain networks are accessible to tDCS or rTMS for investigating neuromodulatory effects on different features of motor learning.…”

Structural brain plasticity in adult learning and development

“…In the absence of strong regional predictions or replication, such results are difficult to trust. Even more problematic than this, however, is the widespread practice of reporting effects without comparing results to those of a control group (of the studies in Inline Supplementary Table S1, the following used this procedure: Driemeyer et al, 2008;Granert et al, 2011;Gryga et al, 2012;Hamzei et al, 2012;Kim et al, 2010;Kwok et al, 2011;Landi et al, 2011;Langer et al, 2012;Stein et al, 2010;Teutsch et al, 2008;Thomas et al, 2009). These studies are difficult to interpret, because an unknown number of issues related to scanner stability over time and to confounding physiological effects such as hydration status (Duning et al, 2005;Kempton et al, 2009) can compromise measurement stability.…”

Strategy‐based reasoning training modulates cortical thickness and resting‐state functional connectivity in adults with chronic traumatic brain injury

“…MRI‐based morphometry has enabled us to noninvasively and quantitatively assess training‐induced structural changes in the healthy adult brain (Best, Chiu, Liang Hsu, Nagamatsu, & Liu‐Ambrose, 2015; Bezzola, Merillat, Gaser, & Jancke, 2011; Draganski et al., 2004, 2006; Engvig et al., 2010; Ilg et al., 2008; Kwok et al., 2011; Landi, Baguear, & Della‐Maggiore, 2011; Schmidt‐Wilcke, Rosengarth, Luerding, Bogdahn, & Greenlee, 2010; Takeuchi et al., 2011, 2014; Taubert et al., 2010; Woollett & Maguire, 2011). For example, Engvig et al.…”