Rapid Cortical Plasticity Induced by Active Associative Learning of Novel Words in Human Adults

Razorenova, A.M.; Владимирович, Чернышев Борис; Nikolaeva, Anastasia; Butorina, Anna; Prokofyev, Andrey O.; Tyulenev, N.B.; Stroganova, Tatiana A.

doi:10.3389/fnins.2020.00895

Cited by 12 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 90 publications

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“…The parameters of the stimuli and the procedure of their construction were described in detail elsewhere (Razorenova et al, 2020). Briefly, eight two‐syllable pseudowords were constructed in compliance with Russian language phonetics and phonotactic constraints (Table 1).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Learning of new associations invokes a major change in modulations of cortical beta oscillations in human adults

et al. 2023

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Large-scale cortical beta (β) oscillations were implicated in the learning processes, but their exact role is debated. We used MEG to explore the dynamics of movement-related βoscillations while 22 adults learned, through trial and error, novel associations between four auditory pseudowords and movements of four limbs. As learning proceeded, spatial-temporal characteristics of βoscillations accompanying cue-triggered movements underwent a major transition. Early in learning, widespread suppression of βpower occurred long before movement initiation and sustained throughout the whole behavioral trial. When learning advanced and performance reached asymptote, βsuppression after the initiation of correct motor response was replaced by a rise in βpower mainly in the prefrontal and medial temporal regions of the left hemisphere. This post-decision βpower predicted trial-by-trial response times (RT) at both stages of learning (before and after the rules become familiar), but with different signs of interaction. When a subject just started to acquire associative rules and gradually improved task performance, a decrease in RT correlated with the increase in the post-decision βband power. When the participants implemented the already acquired rules, faster (more confident) responses were associated with the weaker post-decision βband synchronization. Our findings suggest that maximal beta activity is pertinent to a distinct stage of learning and may serve to strengthen the newly learned association in a distributed memory network.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Learning of new associations invokes a major change in modulations of cortical beta oscillations in human adults

et al. 2023

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“…The parameters of the stimuli and the procedure of their construction were described in detail elsewhere (Razorenova et al, 2020). Briefly, eight two-syllable pseudowords were constructed in compliance with Russian language phonetics and phonotactic constraints (Table 1).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The majority of previous studies relied on real words with pre-existing semantic representations. Few studies that focused on word acquisition usually examined brain responses to novel linguistic stimuli before and/or after learning (Kelly, McDevitt, & Esch, 2009;Razorenova et al, 2020). In the current study, for the first time, we attempted to investigate the neural changes that occur during the learning process and contribute to formation of an association between a novel pseudoword and a motor action.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Learning of new associations invokes a major change in modulations of cortical beta oscillations in human adults

Pavlova

Tyulenev

Tretyakova

et al. 2022

Preprint

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Large-scale cortical beta (β) oscillations have been implicated in the learning processes but their exact role is debated. We explored the dynamics of β-oscillations while 25 adult participants learned, through trial and error, novel associations between four auditory pseudowords and movements of four body extremities. We used MEG to evaluate learninginduced changes in beta modulation accompanying cue-triggered movements.Our findings showed that spatial-temporal characteristics of movement-related β-oscillations underwent a major transition as learning proceeded. Early in learning, suppression of β-power in multiple cortical areas occurred long before movement initiation and sustained throughout the whole behavioral trial. As learning advanced and task performance reached asymptote, βsuppression was replaced by a widespread and prolonged rise in β-power. The β-power rise started shortly after the initiation of correct motor response and mainly comprised the prefrontal and medial temporal regions of the left hemisphere. This post-decision β-power predicted trial-by-trial response times (RT) at both stages of learning (before and after the rules become familiar) but in opposite ways. When a subject started to acquire associative rules and gradually improved task performance, a decrease in RT was correlated with the increase in the post-decision β-band power. Repeatedly correct implementation of the learned rules reversed this correlation in the opposite direction with faster (more confident) responses associated with the weaker post-decision β-band synchronization.Our findings suggest that maximal beta activity is pertinent to a distinct stage of learning and may serve to strengthen the newly learned association in a distributed memory network.

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“…Павлова 1 , Т.А. Строганова 1 1 Московский государственный психолого-педагогический университет, Москва, Российская Федерация; 2 Московский государственный университет им. М.В.…”

Section: нейронные механизмы ассоциативной корковой пластичности в ко...unclassified

“…Мы анализировали связанные с событиями поля и осцилляции в бета-диапазоне. Наши эксперименты показали, что кортикальная пластичность, связанная с обучением словам, может быть выявлена сразу после обучения, без какого-либо длительного времени для консолидации [2]. Мы обнаружили два эффекта, развивающихся в процессе обучения, которые могут способствовать Хеббовской пластичности, связывающей слуховые репрезентации псевдослов с ассоциируемыми движениями.…”

Section: нейронные механизмы ассоциативной корковой пластичности в ко...unclassified

Neural mechanisms of associative cortical plasticity in cognitive domain: Magnetoencephalographic studies

Chernyshev,

Pultsina,

Tretyakova

et al. 2023

Genes & Cells

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Acquisition of language semantics is widely believed to be facilitated by biological mechanisms of associative learning [1]. However, current understanding of brain mechanisms underlying learning and memory is primarily based on simple models, including animal models, with mechanisms of learning in the cognitive realm largely unknown. Semantic language learning serves as a compelling example of these cognitive processes, whose brain mechanisms pose a challenge to explanation at the level of basic neural networks. Particularly, many processes underlying such learning still lack clear understanding, including the mechanisms that enable correlational coincidence of neuronal representation required for Hebbian plasticity, the reverberatory replay of the to-be associated representations in working memory, and the involvement of consolidation, among others. We conducted a series of studies modeling the acquisition of semantic knowledge of action-related vocabulary to investigate these questions. We implemented a unique trial-and-error-based procedure for semantic acquisition, in which participants obtained associations between newly introduced pseudowords and actions through active learning. The experimental procedure comprised the delivery of acoustically equivalent pseudowords that were previously unknown to the subjects. Participants were instructed to execute movements of their hands and feet in response to specific pseudowords. Following each trial, participants received either positive or negative feedback depending on their performance. During the learning phase, MEG was recorded, as well as during passive presentations of the same pseudowords before and after learning to control for attention and motor preparation effects. Our analysis involved event-related fields and beta oscillations. Our experiments showed that cortical plasticity related to word learning could be detected immediately after learning, without the need for prolonged consolidation time [2]. We observed two effects during learning that could contribute to Hebbian plasticity by linking auditory speech representations of pseudowords with associated movements. First, we observed the reactivation of auditory speech representations during the initialization of movement. This mechanism apparently creates the conditions for temporal coincidence of activations in two representations, specifically an auditory speech representation and a representation of a motor program. During the learning process, we observed a considerable rise in beta oscillations that occurred during and after action execution. This effect comprised a typical beta-rebound in the sensorimotor regions and a significant surge in beta activity in various associative cortical regions. We postulate that these beta oscillations constitute a reverberation mechanism that reinforces the associative connection and guards it against potential interference [3]. In further experiments, we administered the learning process over two consecutive days with an overnight interval between recordings. We evaluated beta power dynamics during the acquisition of novel pseudowords on day 1 and during task rehearsal following overnight sleep on day 2. Beta event-related synchronization in the frontal regions emerged upon the attainment of the pseudoword learning rules on day 1, and remained unchanged after sleep and subsequent rehearsal on day 2. The prefrontal beta rhythm’s dynamics mirrored the corresponding behavioral changes: subjects executed the task with minimal errors on day 2 upon meeting the learning criterion on day 1. Beta event-related synchronization augmented continuously in the posterior temporal and parietal cortices on day 2 and potentially contributed towards the assimilation of newly-acquired associations in long-term memory. In summary, our research offers fresh perspectives on the intricate neural mechanisms underlying plasticity in the human brain within the cognitive domain.

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Rapid Cortical Plasticity Induced by Active Associative Learning of Novel Words in Human Adults

Cited by 12 publications

References 90 publications

Learning of new associations invokes a major change in modulations of cortical beta oscillations in human adults

Learning of new associations invokes a major change in modulations of cortical beta oscillations in human adults

Learning of new associations invokes a major change in modulations of cortical beta oscillations in human adults

Neural mechanisms of associative cortical plasticity in cognitive domain: Magnetoencephalographic studies

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