Changes in regional activity are accompanied with changes in inter-regional connectivity during 4 weeks motor learning

Liangsuo Ma, Binquan Wang, Shalini Narayana, Eliot Hazeltine, Xiying Chen, Donald A. Robin, Peter T. Fox, Jinhu Xiong

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

100 Scopus citations

Abstract

Structural equation modeling (SEM) and fMRI were used to test whether changes in the regional activity are accompanied by changes in the inter-regional connectivity as motor practice progresses. Ten healthy subjects were trained to perform finger movement task daily for 4 weeks. Three sessions of fMRI images were acquired within 4 weeks. The changes in inter-regional connectivity were evaluated by measuring the effective connectivity between the primary motor area (M1), supplementary motor area (SMA), dorsal premotor cortex (PMd), basal ganglia (BG), cerebellum (CB), and posterior ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (pVLPFC). The regional activities in M1 and SMA increased from pre-training to week 2 and decreased from week 2 to week 4. The inter-regional connectivity generally increased in strength (with SEM path coefficients becoming more positive or negative) as practice progressed. The increases in the strength of the inter-regional connectivity may reflect long-term reorganization of the skilled motor network. We suggest that the performance gain was achieved by dynamically tuning the inter-regional connectivity in the motor network.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)64-76
Number of pages13
JournalBrain Research
Volume1318
DOIs
StatePublished - Mar 8 2010

Keywords

  • Effective connectivity
  • Inter-regional connectivity
  • Motor plasticity
  • Motor skill learning
  • Structural equation modeling

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Clinical Neurology
  • Molecular Biology
  • General Neuroscience
  • Developmental Biology

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