Temporal dynamics of white and gray matter plasticity during motor skill acquisition: a comparative diffusion tensor imaging and multiparametric mapping analysis.

ABSTRACT: Learning new motor skills relies on neural plasticity within motor and limbic systems. This study uniquely combined diffusion tensor imaging and multiparametric mapping MRI to detail these neuroplasticity processes. We recruited 18 healthy male participants who underwent 960 min of training on a computer-based motion game, while 14 were scanned without training. Diffusion tensor imaging, which quantifies tissue microstructure by measuring the capacity for, and directionality of, water diffusion, revealed mostly linear changes in white matter across the corticospinal-cerebellar-thalamo-hippocampal circuit. These changes related to performance and reflected different responses to upper- and lower-limb training in brain areas with known somatotopic representations. Conversely, quantitative MR

SUBMITTER: Emmenegger T 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11364465 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature