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Repeated Structural Imaging Reveals Nonlinear Progression of Experience-Dependent Volume Changes in Human Motor
Elisabeth Wenger1, Simone Kühn1,2, Julius Verrel1
1Center for Lifespan Psychology, Max Planck Institute for Human Development, Berlin, Germany.
Cerebral Cortex (New York, N.Y. : 1991)
|May 27, 2016
Summary
Adult brain structural plasticity, specifically gray matter changes in motor cortices, expands during practice then partially renormalizes. This dynamic process, observed over 7 weeks, highlights the need for frequent imaging in plasticity research.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Cognitive Science
Background:
- Accumulating evidence supports experience-dependent structural brain changes in adults.
- The temporal dynamics of these changes, particularly expansion and potential renormalization, remain poorly understood due to limited imaging sessions in prior studies.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the time course of structural brain changes, specifically gray matter volume in primary motor cortices, during a 7-week intensive learning period.
- To determine if observed structural changes exhibit a pattern of expansion followed by renormalization.
Main Methods:
- Acquisition of up to 18 structural magnetic resonance images over 7 weeks from 15 participants practicing left-hand writing and drawing.
- Comparison with a control group and time-series analysis to track gray matter changes in the primary motor cortices.
Main Results:
- Significant gray matter increases in bilateral primary motor cortices were observed after 4 weeks of practice.
- These increases were no longer statistically reliable 3 weeks later, suggesting partial renormalization.
- Time-series analysis confirmed an initial expansion phase followed by renormalization, particularly in the right hemisphere, despite continued practice.
Conclusions:
- Structural brain plasticity, exemplified by gray matter changes in motor cortices, follows a dynamic pattern of expansion and subsequent partial renormalization.
- This pattern may represent a general principle of structural plasticity across different neurobiological processes.
- Future research on human brain plasticity should employ more frequent measurements to capture these complex temporal dynamics.
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