Abstract
Although experience-dependent structural changes have been found in adult gray matter, there is little evidence for such changes in white matter. Using diffusion imaging, we detected a localized increase in fractional anisotropy, a measure of microstructure, in white matter underlying the intraparietal sulcus following training of a complex visuo-motor skill. This provides, to the best of our knowledge, the first evidence for training-related changes in white-matter structure in the healthy human adult brain.
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Acknowledgements
We thank J. Anderson, M. Jenkinson, G. Douaud and M. Woolrich for technical assistance, M. Rushworth for useful discussions on functional anatomy, R. Mars for providing additional control data, and M. Mangham for juggling support. We are grateful for financial support from the Wellcome Trust (H.J.-B. and J.S.) and the UK Medical Research Council (J.S. and T.E.J.B.).
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J.S. and H.J.-B. designed the study. J.S. and M.C.K. collected and analyzed the data. H.J.B. supervised the project. T.E.J.B. provided assistance with data analysis and interpretation. J.S. wrote the manuscript and all of the authors edited the manuscript.
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Scholz, J., Klein, M., Behrens, T. et al. Training induces changes in white-matter architecture. Nat Neurosci 12, 1370–1371 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1038/nn.2412
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nn.2412
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