Imaging brain plasticity during motor skill learning
Abstract
The search for the neural substrates mediating the incremental acquisition of skilled motor behaviors has been the focus of a large body of animal and human studies in the past decade. Much less is known, however, with regard to the dynamic neural changes that occur in the motor system during the different phases of learning. In this paper, we review recent findings, mainly from our own work using fMRI, which suggest that: (i) the learning of sequential finger movements produces a slowly evolving reorganization within primary motor cortex (M1) over the course of weeks and (ii) this change in M1 follows more dynamic, rapid changes in the cerebellum, striatum, and other motor-related cortical areas over the course of days. We also briefly review neurophysiological and psychophysical evidence for the consolidation of motor skills, and we propose a working hypothesis of its underlying neural substrate in motor sequence learning.
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Neuroimaging studies show that with extremely extended training (several weeks), slowly evolving BOLD signals in the primary motor cortex begin to discriminate between practiced and novel sequences.
“Additional support for this view comes from neuroimaging studies showing that, with extremely extended training (i.e., several weeks), slowly evolving BOLD signals in the primary motor cortex (M1) begin to discriminate between practiced and novel sequences [79].”
From Contributions of the striatum to learning, motivation, and performance: an associative account (2012) · cites this paper as [79]
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- Authors
- Ungerleider, L.
- Affiliations
- National Institutes of Health (US)
- Corresponding author
- Ungerleider, L
- ORCID
- Ungerleider, L
- Venue
- Neurobiology of Learning and Memory
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2002-11
- Volume
- 78
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 553-564
- ISSN
- 1074-7427 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2080139468
- Cited by
- 641
- References
- 35
- Citations by year
- 2026: 8 · 2025: 13 · 2024: 17 · 2023: 21 · 2022: 25 · 2021: 23 · 2020: 24 · 2019: 51 · 2018: 25 · 2017: 47 · 2016: 36 · 2015: 34 · 2014: 38 · 2013: 42 · 2012: 27
- FWCI
- 10.26
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Neurobiology of Learning and Memory (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Motor Control and Adaptation
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Memory and Neural Mechanisms
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Tactile and Sensory Interactions
- Keywords
- motor skill learning, neuroplasticity, motor sequence learning, primary motor cortex, cerebellum, striatum, motor cortex reorganization, motor skill consolidation, finger movement
- MeSH terms
- Brain, Cerebellum, Corpus Striatum, Humans, Learning, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Memory, Motor Cortex, Motor Skills, Neuronal Plasticity
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