Kinematic specificity of cortical reorganization associated with motor training.
Motor training consisting of repetition of directionally specific voluntary thumb movements elicits a short-term memory trace that encodes the kinematic details of the practiced motions in the primary motor cortex. Here, we studied activation patterns associated with this form of training using functional magnetic resonance imaging under careful monitoring of motor training kinematics and electromyography. We identified task-specific reductions in activation in contralateral motor cortex, a region that controls executive motor output, as well as somatosensory cortex and inferior parietal lobule, regions in charge of monitoring motor training kinematics. Our findings are consistent with the hypothesis that a short training period consisting of repetition of finger motions leads to cortical reorganization characterized by a smaller and more efficient network that is specific for the trained movement direction.
Morgen
Katrin
K
Neuroimmunology Branch, NINDS, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892-1430, USA.
Kadom
Nadja
N
Sawaki
Lumy
L
Tessitore
Alessandro
A
Ohayon
Joan
J
Frank
Joseph
J
McFarland
Henry
H
Martin
Roland
R
Cohen
Leonardo G
LG
D000328:Adult; D001696:Biomechanical Phenomena; D001931:Brain Mapping; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D007858:Learning / Q000502:physiology*; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009044:Motor Cortex / Q000502:physiology; D009068:Movement / Q000502:physiology; D010100:Oxygen / Q000097:blood; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology*; D013003:Somatosensory Cortex / Q000502:physiology; D013933:Thumb / Q000502:physiology
D010100:Oxygen