Age-related differences in practice-dependent resting-state functional connectivity related to motor sequence
Alison Mary1,2, Vincent Wens2,3, Marc Op de Beeck2,3
1UR2NF - Neuropsychology and Functional Neuroimaging Research Unit at CRCN - Center for Research in Cognition and Neurosciences, Université libre de Bruxelles (ULB), Brussels, Belgium.
Human Brain Mapping
|October 12, 2016
Summary
Ageing impacts neural plasticity in the sensorimotor cortex, affecting motor learning. Post-training brain connectivity changes differ between young and old adults, revealing age-related differences in motor skill consolidation.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Cognitive Neuroscience
- Aging Research
Background:
- Healthy aging is associated with decreased neural plasticity in the primary sensorimotor (SM1) cortex.
- The SM1 cortex plays a crucial role in motor learning and memory consolidation.
- Understanding age-related changes in neural plasticity is vital for addressing motor skill deficits in older adults.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the reorganization of resting-state functional connectivity (rsFC) after motor learning in young and old adults.
- To examine the relationship between rsFC changes, motor learning performance, and early memory consolidation.
- To identify age-specific differences in neural plasticity and motor skill acquisition.
Main Methods:
- Magnetoencephalography (MEG) was used to measure rsFC.
- Participants (14 young, 14 old) underwent a motor sequence learning task.
- rsFC was assessed using a sensorimotor seed-based approach focusing on beta band power envelope correlation before and after the learning task.
Main Results:
- Young and old participants displayed distinct patterns of SM1-related rsFC.
- Post-training rsFC changes correlated with motor learning and offline performance improvements.
- Age-related differences in post-training rsFC changes were observed, suggesting modulated neural circuits.
Conclusions:
- Changes in rsFC following motor learning reflect offline processing and early memory consolidation.
- Ageing significantly modulates neural circuits involved in learning new motor skills and their subsequent consolidation.
- These findings highlight the impact of aging on neural plasticity and motor learning capabilities.
