title: Spontaneous brain activity predicts learning ability of foreign sounds.
abstract: Can learning capacity of the human brain be predicted from initial spontaneous functional connectivity (FC) between brain areas involved in a task? We combined task-related functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and resting-state fMRI (rs-fMRI) before and after training with a Hindi dental-retroflex nonnative contrast. Previous fMRI results were replicated, demonstrating that this learning recruited the left insula/frontal operculum and the left superior parietal lobe, among other areas of the brain. Crucially, resting-state FC (rs-FC) between these two areas at pretraining predicted individual differences in learning outcomes after distributed (Experiment 1) and intensive training (Experiment 2). Furthermore, this rs-FC was reduced at posttraining, a change that may also account for learning. Finally, resting-state network analyses showed that the mechanism underlying this reduction of rs-FC was mainly a transfer in intrinsic activity of the left frontal operculum/anterior insula from the left frontoparietal network to the salience network. Thus, rs-FC may contribute to predict learning ability and to understand how learning modifies the functioning of the brain. The discovery of this correspondence between initial spontaneous brain activity in task-related areas and posttraining performance opens new avenues to find predictors of learning capacities in the brain using task-related fMRI and rs-fMRI combined.
authors.affiliation: Departament de Psicologia Bàsica, Clínica i Psicobiología, Universitat Jaume I, 12071 Castellón de la Plana, Spain. venturan@uji.es
authors.forename: Noelia
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Ventura-Campos
authors.forename: Ana
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sanjuán
authors.forename: Julio
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: González
authors.forename: María-Ángeles
authors.initials: MÁ
authors.lastname: Palomar-García
authors.forename: Aina
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Rodríguez-Pujadas
authors.forename: Núria
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Sebastián-Gallés
authors.forename: Gustavo
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Deco
authors.forename: César
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Ávila
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001307:Auditory Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D001921:Brain / Q000502:physiology*; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D007802:Language; D007858:Learning / Q000502:physiology*; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D009415:Nerve Net / Q000502:physiology; D010296:Parietal Lobe / Q000502:physiology; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D017397:Prefrontal Cortex / Q000502:physiology; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology; D055815:Young Adult