Reorganization and enhanced functional connectivity of motor areas in repetitive ankle movements after training in locomotor attention.
We examined the functional changes in the activity of the cerebral areas involved in motor tasks, prior to and following a 1-week period of locomotor attention training consisting of physical and mental practice, in normal subjects. In a previous study, we examined the effect of the same kind of training on motor circuits using an fMRI paradigm of motor imagery. In this work, we investigated whether the expanded activations found in the previous study were present also using an overt foot motor task consisting of ankle dorsiflexion; a control task requiring hand movements was also administered. In this article, we also discuss the changes in functional connectivity between the pretraining and posttraining conditions during foot movements. The foot task showed a posttraining reorganization of the sensorimotor areas, which is in line with earlier studies on lower limb motor learning, while the control hand movement task only produced a modification in the left premotor cortex. These results confirm the effect of training on functional reorganization and underline its task specificity. After training, we also observed enhanced connectivity in the sensorimotor areas, suggesting that functional connectivity of the sensorimotor network can be modulated by focusing attention on the movements involved in ambulation.
Sacco
Katiuscia
K
CCS fMRI, Neuroradiology at Koelliker Hospital and Department of Psychology at University of Turin, Italy. sacco@psych.unito.it
Katiuscia
Sacco
S
Cauda
Franco
F
Franco
Cauda
C
D'Agata
Federico
F
Federico
D'Agata
D
Mate
Davide
D
Davide
Mate
M
Duca
Sergio
S
Sergio
Duca
D
Geminiani
Giuliano
G
Giuliano
Geminiani
G
D000328:Adult; D000842:Ankle / Q000502:physiology; D001921:Brain / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000502:physiology*; D001931:Brain Mapping; D005260:Female; D005528:Foot / Q000502:physiology; D007839:Functional Laterality / Q000502:physiology; D006225:Hand / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D007092:Imagination / Q000502:physiology*; D007858:Learning / Q000502:physiology*; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D009044:Motor Cortex / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000502:physiology; D009068:Movement / Q000502:physiology*; D009415:Nerve Net / Q000502:physiology; D009434:Neural Pathways / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000502:physiology; D009473:Neuronal Plasticity / Q000502:physiology*; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology*; D013647:Task Performance and Analysis; D055815:Young Adult