title: The involvement of the fronto-parietal brain network in oculomotor sequence learning using fMRI.
abstract: The basis of motor learning involves decomposing complete actions into a series of predictive individual components that form the whole. The present fMRI study investigated the areas of the human brain important for oculomotor short-term learning, by using a novel sequence learning paradigm that is equivalent in visual and temporal properties for both saccades and pursuit, enabling more direct comparisons between the oculomotor subsystems. In contrast with previous studies that have implemented a series of discrete ramps to observe predictive behaviour as evidence for learning, we presented a continuous sequence of interlinked components that better represents sequences of actions. We implemented both a classic univariate fMRI analysis, followed by a further multivariate pattern analysis (MVPA) within a priori regions of interest, to investigate oculomotor sequence learning in the brain and to determine whether these mechanisms overlap in pursuit and saccades as part of a higher order learning network. This study has uniquely identified an equivalent frontal-parietal network (dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, frontal eye fields and posterior parietal cortex) in both saccades and pursuit sequence learning. In addition, this is the first study to investigate oculomotor sequence learning during fMRI brain imaging, and makes significant contributions to understanding the role of the dorsal networks in motor learning.
authors.affiliation: Sport, Health and Exercise Sciences, Brunel University London, Uxbridge UB8 3PH, UK. Electronic address: Claudia.Gonzalez@brunel.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Claudia C
authors.initials: CC
authors.lastname: Gonzalez
authors.affiliation: School of Psychology, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, UK. Electronic address: J.Billington@leeds.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Jac
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Billington
authors.affiliation: School of Psychology, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, UK. Electronic address: m.r.burke@leeds.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Melanie R
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Burke
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D059031:Anticipation, Psychological / Q000502:physiology; D001931:Brain Mapping / Q000379:methods; D002560:Cerebrovascular Circulation / Q000502:physiology; D053483:Eye Movement Measurements; D005260:Female; D005625:Frontal Lobe / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D007858:Learning / Q000502:physiology*; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D009043:Motor Activity / Q000502:physiology*; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D009434:Neural Pathways; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D010100:Oxygen / Q000097:blood; D010296:Parietal Lobe / Q000502:physiology*; D010363:Pattern Recognition, Automated; D011698:Pursuit, Smooth / Q000502:physiology*; D012438:Saccades / Q000502:physiology*; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D010100:Oxygen
keywords: FMRI; MVPA; Memory; Prediction; Pursuit; Saccade