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Practice and perfect: length of training and structural brain changes in experienced typists
Gianna C Cannonieri1, Leonardo Bonilha, Paula T Fernandes
1Laboratory of Neuroimaging, Department of Neurology, State University of Campinas, Campinas, São Paulo, Brazil.
Neuroreport
|June 15, 2007
Summary
Long-term motor training, like typing, can change brain structure. Professional typists show increased grey matter volume in motor control areas, suggesting structural brain plasticity.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Neuroplasticity
- Motor Control
Background:
- Motor training enhances performance, but its impact on brain structure is not fully understood.
- Investigating structural brain plasticity requires examining changes induced by prolonged, specialized motor activities.
Purpose of the Study:
- To determine the extent of structural brain plasticity from long-term bimanual motor activity.
- To correlate practice duration with grey matter volume changes in professional typists.
Main Methods:
- Optimized voxel-based morphometry was used to analyze brain structure.
- Grey matter volume was correlated with the duration of typing practice.
- Analysis focused on 116 predefined brain regions relevant to motor tasks.
Main Results:
- A significant positive correlation was found between grey matter volume and practice duration.
- Increased grey matter volume was observed in brain regions associated with motor task programming.
- These findings suggest a link between extensive motor training and specific brain structural changes.
Conclusions:
- Long-term bimanual motor training, exemplified by professional typing, induces structural brain plasticity.
- Increased grey matter volume in motor-related areas may reflect adaptation to prolonged, complex motor demands.
- This study provides evidence for experience-dependent structural changes in the adult brain.
Related Concept Videos
01:01Neuroplasticity
Neuroplasticity reflects the brain's remarkable capacity to adapt and evolve, responding dynamically to learning, experiences, or injury by reorganizing its neural circuitry. This reorganization involves creating new neural connections and refining old ones through a series of biological processes that contribute to the brain's lifelong development and adaptability.
01:35Long-term Potentiation
Long-term potentiation, or LTP, is one of the ways by which synaptic plasticity—changes in the strength of chemical synapses—can occur in the brain. LTP is the process of synaptic strengthening that occurs over time between pre- and postsynaptic neuronal connections. The synaptic strengthening of LTP works in opposition to the synaptic weakening of long-term depression (LTD) and together are the main mechanisms that underlie learning and memory.