Training of Working Memory Impacts Structural Connectivity

Takeuchi, Hikaru; Sekiguchi, Atsushi; Taki, Yasuyuki; Yokoyama, Satoru; Yomogida, Yukihito; Komuro, Nozomi; Yamanouchi, Tohru; Suzuki, Sadao; Kawashima, Ryuta

doi:10.1523/jneurosci.4611-09.2010

Cited by 467 publications

(399 citation statements)

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“…Working memory is an important capacity involved in the shortterm maintenance and manipulation of information. A recent study found months of working memory training increases FA associated with the white matter adjacent to the frontoparietal regions critical in working memory (6). Much of the research in training effects on white-matter plasticity have compared experts and novices without explicit training and when training has been used has generally required months to years to produce changes in FA.…”

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confidence: 99%

Short-term meditation induces white matter changes in the anterior cingulate

Tang

Geng

et al. 2010

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

428

353

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The anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) is part of a network implicated in the development of self-regulation and whose connectivity changes dramatically in development. In previous studies we showed that 3 h of mental training, based on traditional Chinese medicine (integrative body-mind training, IBMT), increases ACC activity and improves self-regulation. However, it is not known whether changes in white matter connectivity can result from small amounts of mental training. We here report that 11 h of IBMT increases fractional anisotropy (FA), an index indicating the integrity and efficiency of white matter in the corona radiata, an important white-matter tract connecting the ACC to other structures. Thus IBMT could provide a means for improving self-regulation and perhaps reducing or preventing various mental disorders.anterior cingulate cortex | anterior corona radiata | integrative body-mind training | relaxation training | self-regulation P revious studies on effects of long-term training on white matter assessed by diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) have had mixed results. Musicians show positive relations between fractional anisotropy (FA) and training in widespread white-matter regions such as the pyramidal tract (1, 2); however, the opposite result of lower FA in musicians than in nonmusicians in this region of the brain was also reported (3, 4). One study has reported that longterm abacus training from an early age enhances the integrity in white-matter tracts related to motor and visuospatial processes (5). Working memory is an important capacity involved in the shortterm maintenance and manipulation of information. A recent study found months of working memory training increases FA associated with the white matter adjacent to the frontoparietal regions critical in working memory (6). Much of the research in training effects on white-matter plasticity have compared experts and novices without explicit training and when training has been used has generally required months to years to produce changes in FA.The anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) is part of a network implicated in monitoring and resolving conflict among competing response tendencies (7,8). During infant and child development this structure has been shown to change its connectivity (9, 10). These changes have been related to the increasing ability of children to regulate their own emotions and behavior (11).Deficits in activation of the ACC have been associated with attention deficit disorder, addiction, dementia, depression, schizophrenia, and other disorders (12-16). In addiction, hypoactivation of the ACC has been found to be critical to symptoms of craving (17). In tobacco addiction, a circuit involving the ACC and striatum has been shown to have lower than normal connectivity (15). Thus evidence related to increasing the activation and strengthening connectivity of the ACC may be useful as a treatment or prevention of addiction and other disorders.The anterior corona radiata has been identified as one important white-matter tract connecting the ...

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mentioning

confidence: 99%

Short-term meditation induces white matter changes in the anterior cingulate

Tang

Geng

et al. 2010

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

428

353

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“…Structural neuroimaging Structural neuroimaging studies have shown that various trainings including both physical and cognitive skill trainings induced significant changes in brains at the structural level (e.g., Scholz et al 2009;Takeuchi et al 2010). For instance, long-term trained players of the game of BBaduk (Go),^an Asian board game, showed a significantly different brain anatomy in the frontal, cinglulum, and striato-thalamic areas dealing with attentional control, working memory, executive regulation, and problem-solving, compared with non-experts (Lee et al 2010).…”

Section: Neuroimaging Methods To Measure Moral Virtuementioning

confidence: 99%

“…This method quantifies diffusion anisotropy effects in white matters, and investigates the microstructure of the human brain (Assaf and Pasternak 2008). The DTI method has also been applied to investigate the influences of both internal and external factors on the brain structure (e.g., Lee et al 2010;Molinuevo et al 2012;Scholz et al 2009;Takeuchi et al 2010).…”

Section: Neuroimaging Methods To Measure Moral Virtuementioning

confidence: 99%

“…First, training programs designed for the habituation of certain actions, such as juggling, induced myelination in regions associated with the function (Scholz et al 2009). Second, even for the cultivation of reasoning, which is more sophisticated than the case of habituation, interventions, such as board games (Lee et al 2010), reasoning exercises (Mackey et al 2012), working memory training (Olesen et al 2004;Takeuchi et al 2010), and meditation programs (Lazar et al 2005), promoted significant structural changes in brain regions associated with cognition and reasoning. These results would support the idea that Aristotelian ways for moral education-i.e., habituation and phronesis cultivation-actually influences the brain structure according to the idea of neuroplasticity (LeDoux 2002) and previous neuroscientific studies demonstrating the neural-level effect of habituation and learning (Tricomi et al 2009;Lingawi and Balleine 2012;de Wit et al 2012).…”

Section: Development Of Moral Virtue and Developmental Neurosciencementioning

confidence: 99%

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How can neuroscience contribute to moral philosophy, psychology and education based on Aristotelian virtue ethics?

Han

2016

International Journal of Ethics Education

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The present essay discusses the relationship between moral philosophy, psychology and education based on virtue ethics, contemporary neuroscience, and how neuroscientific methods can contribute to studies of moral virtue and character. First, the present essay considers whether the mechanism of moral motivation and developmental model of virtue and character are well supported by neuroscientific evidence. Particularly, it examines whether the evidence provided by neuroscientific studies can support the core argument of virtue ethics, that is, motivational externalism. Second, it discusses how experimental methods of neuroscience can be applied to studies in human morality. Particularly, the present essay examines how functional and structural neuroimaging methods can contribute to the development of the fields by reviewing the findings of recent social and developmental neuroimaging experiments. Meanwhile, the present essay also considers some limitations embedded in such discussions regarding the relationship between the fields and suggests directions for future studies to address these limitations.

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“…WM training has been associated with changes in the function and structure of the fronto-parietal network Dahlin et al 2008). Training has been associated with changes in brain activation during WM tasks (Dahlin et al 2008;Olesen et al 2004;Westerberg and Klingberg 2007), changes in the organization of white matter connections between frontal and parietal regions (Takeuchi et al 2010), and changes in cortical thickness (Takeuchi et al 2011). Further, WM training changes the dopamine system, including the density of dopamine receptors in the cortex (McNab et al 2009) and dopamine release in the striatum (Bäckman et al 2011).…”

Section: Cognitive Trainingmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Role and Sources of Individual Differences in Critical-Analytic Thinking: a Capsule Overview

et al. 2014

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Critical-analytic thinking is typically conceived as a meta-construct that arises at the junction of a problem state (i.e., a situation that requires analysis that challenges previous assumptions) and an individual (i.e., an entity with the capacity to exercise critical-analytic thinking). With regard to the latter, there is a substantial body of research focusing on developmental and educational prerequisites for critical-analytic thinking. A less studied aspect of critical-analytic thinking pertains to individual differences, particularly in the set of foundational or componential cognitive skills that embody this construct. The bottom line here is whether, all else being equal (i.e., the same situation and the same developmental/ educational stage), there is variation in whether, when, and how people think critically/ analytically. We argue that there is unequivocal evidence for both the existence and importance of individual differences in critical-analytic thinking. This review focuses on theoretical and empirical evidence, identifying the cognitive processes that serve as the sources of these individual differences and capturing these processes' differential contributions to both the critical and analytic components of this construct.Keywords Critical analytic thinking . Neurocognitive mechanisms . Fluid reasoning . Executive function . Genetic factors . Environmental factors For better or for worse, people differ. The number of dimensions on which they differ is endless; one such dimension is the way they think. Here we are interested in surveying both the presentation and sources of individual differences in critical-analytic thinking. Whereas Educ Psychol Rev (2014) what critical-analytic thinking is, the construct is ill-defined and this has been a source of constant debate. Although the debate has swung from a notion of the skills and capacities necessary for critical-analytic thinking to one of disposition toward truth-seeking (Burbules and Berk 1999), the former provides for analysis and the measurement a set of requisite cognitive processes to unpack, with respect to variability in performance in situations and on tasks requiring critical-analytic thinking. As critical-analytic thinking occurs so naturally for some, yet so painfully arduous for others, it is likely that this type of thinking embeds a "vast variety of cognitive skills" (Lipman 1988) that must be orchestrated together, both developmentally as a capacity, and concurrently, as an act. Thus, both the skills and the way they are combined generate a source of individual differences. The intent of this review is to provide an understanding of how variations in several core neurocognitive systems, stemming from genetic and environmental sources, lead to differences in the capacity for and competency in critical-analytic thinking.Critical-analytic thinking involves the ability to overcome one's own biases by decontextualizing an argument (the critical component) and evaluating it rationally (the analytic component), rather than lo...

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Training of Working Memory Impacts Structural Connectivity

Cited by 467 publications

References 56 publications

Short-term meditation induces white matter changes in the anterior cingulate

Short-term meditation induces white matter changes in the anterior cingulate

How can neuroscience contribute to moral philosophy, psychology and education based on Aristotelian virtue ethics?

The Role and Sources of Individual Differences in Critical-Analytic Thinking: a Capsule Overview

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