title: Anatomy of Subcortical Structures Predicts Age-Related Differences in Skill Acquisition.
abstract: Skill acquisition capabilities vary substantially from one individual to another. Volumetric brain studies have demonstrated that global volume of several subcortical structures predicts variations in learning outcome in young adults (YA) and older adults (OA). In this study, for the first time, we utilized shape analysis, which offers a more sensitive detection of subregional brain anatomical deformations, to investigate whether subregional anatomy of subcortical structures is associated with training-induced performance improvement on a bimanual task in YA and OA, and whether this association is age-dependent. Compared with YA, OA showed poorer performance, greater performance improvement, and smaller global volume and compressed subregional shape in subcortical structures. In OA, global volume of the right nucleus accumbens and subregional shape of the right thalamus, caudate, putamen and nucleus accumbens were positively correlated with acquisition of difficult (non-preferred) but not easy (preferred) task conditions. In YA, global volume and subregional shape of the right hippocampus were negatively correlated with performance improvement in both the easy and difficult conditions. We argue that pre-existing neuroanatomical measures of subcortical structures involved in motor learning differentially predict skill acquisition potential in YA and OA.
authors.affiliation: Department of Kinesiology, Biomedical Sciences Group, Movement Control and Neuroplasticity Research Center, KU Leuven, 3001 Leuven, Belgium.
authors.forename: Sima
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Chalavi
authors.affiliation: Department of Kinesiology, Biomedical Sciences Group, Movement Control and Neuroplasticity Research Center, KU Leuven, 3001 Leuven, Belgium.
authors.forename: Hamed Zivari
authors.initials: HZ
authors.lastname: Adab
authors.affiliation: Department of Kinesiology, Biomedical Sciences Group, Movement Control and Neuroplasticity Research Center, KU Leuven, 3001 Leuven, Belgium.
authors.forename: Lisa
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Pauwels
authors.affiliation: Department of Kinesiology, Biomedical Sciences Group, Movement Control and Neuroplasticity Research Center, KU Leuven, 3001 Leuven, Belgium.|BrainCTR, Lilid bvba, 3290 Diest, Belgium.
authors.forename: Iseult A M
authors.initials: IAM
authors.lastname: Beets
authors.affiliation: Department of Kinesiology, Biomedical Sciences Group, Movement Control and Neuroplasticity Research Center, KU Leuven, 3001 Leuven, Belgium.|Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience, Department of Clinical Psychological Science, Maastricht University, 6200 MD Maastricht, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: van Ruitenbeek
authors.affiliation: Department of Kinesiology, Biomedical Sciences Group, Movement Control and Neuroplasticity Research Center, KU Leuven, 3001 Leuven, Belgium.
authors.forename: Matthieu P
authors.initials: MP
authors.lastname: Boisgontier
authors.affiliation: Department of Kinesiology, Biomedical Sciences Group, Movement Control and Neuroplasticity Research Center, KU Leuven, 3001 Leuven, Belgium.
authors.forename: Thiago Santos
authors.initials: TS
authors.lastname: Monteiro
authors.affiliation: Department of Kinesiology, Biomedical Sciences Group, Movement Control and Neuroplasticity Research Center, KU Leuven, 3001 Leuven, Belgium.
authors.forename: Celine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Maes
authors.affiliation: Department of Imaging and Pathology, Biomedical Sciences Group, Translational MRI Unit, KU Leuven, 3000 Leuven, Belgium.
authors.forename: Stefan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sunaert
authors.affiliation: Department of Kinesiology, Biomedical Sciences Group, Movement Control and Neuroplasticity Research Center, KU Leuven, 3001 Leuven, Belgium.|Leuven Research Institute for Neuroscience & Disease (LIND), KU Leuven, 3000 Leuven, Belgium.
authors.forename: Stephan P
authors.initials: SP
authors.lastname: Swinnen
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000375:Aging / Q000502:physiology*; D001921:Brain / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D005544:Forecasting; D006801:Humans; D007858:Learning / Q000502:physiology*; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009048:Motor Skills / Q000502:physiology*; D010775:Photic Stimulation / Q000379:methods; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology*; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: bimanual skill acquisition; global volume; motor learning; subcortical structures; subregional shape