MRI assessment of cortical thickness and functional activity changes in adolescent girls following three months of practice on a visual-spatial task

Abstract

Background:Neuro-imaging studies demonstrate plasticity of cortical gray matter before and after practice for some motor and cognitive tasks in adults. Other imaging studies show functional changes after practice, but there is not yet direct evidence of how structural and functional changes may be related. A fundamental question is whether they occur at the same cortical sites, adjacent sites, or sites in other parts of a network.

Development of the Selection and Manipulation of Self-Generated Thoughts in Adolescence

“…This suggests that the age-related functional changes are not purely consequences of structural maturation and may reflect the maturation of neurocognitive strategies. Consistent with these results, a recent study of visuospatial training in adolescent girls revealed that cortical thickness increases and brain activation changes after training did not occur in the same brain regions (Haier et al, 2009).…”

Playing Super Mario induces structural brain plasticity: gray matter changes resulting from training with a commercial video game

“…65 The authors focused on cortical thickness measures but found no increase in DLPFC or HC, but in frontal eye fields and the temporal pole. This suggests that the structural growth of HC and DLPFC may be unique for the game genre used in this study.…”

MRI Techniques to Evaluate Exercise Impact on the Aging Human Brain

“…While it is not currently known precisely how much time is needed to facilitate structural changes (i.e., improvements) in the brain due to exercise, it is reasonable to hypothesize that relatively short-term structural change may be possible. In two separate studies demonstrating brain plasticity, as little as 1.5 to 3 months of cognitive training resulted in cortical changes in younger populations (Driemeyer et al, 2008;Haier et al, 2009). As for exercise, six months of aerobic exercise using moderate intensity walking 3 days per week www.intechopen.com for an hour each session not only prevented brain volume atrophy but resulted in brain volume improvement in older adults (Colcombe et al, 2006).…”