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Functional brain changes following cognitive and motor skills training: a quantitative meta-analysis
Ronak Patel1, R Nathan Spreng, Gary R Turner
1Ryerson University, Toronto, ON, Canada.
Neurorehabilitation and Neural Repair
|October 25, 2012
Summary
Functional neuroimaging reveals common brain activity patterns after cognitive and motor skills training. These changes in large-scale brain networks and the striatum may become reliable markers for intervention effectiveness.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Rehabilitation Research
- Cognitive Science
Background:
- Functional neuroimaging is vital in rehabilitation to understand neural mechanisms of training.
- It aids in designing interventions and evaluating treatment outcomes.
- Identifying reliable neural markers can standardize treatment impact assessment.
Purpose of the Study:
- To find common functional brain changes across various training interventions.
- To develop reliable neural markers for guiding intervention research.
Main Methods:
- A quantitative meta-analytic approach was used.
- Reviewed functional neuroimaging studies (N=38) of cognitive and motor skills training.
- Focused on healthy young adults.
Main Results:
- Decreased activity observed in cognitive control regions (lateral prefrontal, inferior parietal lobule, anterior cingulate cortex).
- Increased activity noted in default network regions (medial prefrontal cortex, posterior cingulate, angular gyrus).
- Subcortical striatum activity also reliably increased post-training.
Conclusions:
- Altered engagement of brain networks and striatum may serve as neural markers for training.
- Developing metrics based on brain activity and connectivity can link brain changes to behavioral outcomes.
