Functional brain connectivity at rest changes after working memory training - PubMed (original) (raw)

. 2013 Feb;34(2):396-406.

doi: 10.1002/hbm.21444. Epub 2011 Nov 11.

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Functional brain connectivity at rest changes after working memory training

Dietsje D Jolles et al. Hum Brain Mapp. 2013 Feb.

Abstract

Networks of functional connectivity are highly consistent across participants, suggesting that functional connectivity is for a large part predetermined. However, several studies have shown that functional connectivity may change depending on instructions or previous experience. In the present study, we investigated whether 6 weeks of practice with a working memory task changes functional connectivity during a resting period preceding the task. We focused on two task-relevant networks, the frontoparietal network and the default network, using seed regions in the right middle frontal gyrus (MFG) and the medial prefrontal cortex (PFC), respectively. After practice, young adults showed increased functional connectivity between the right MFG and other regions of the frontoparietal network, including bilateral superior frontal gyrus, paracingulate gyrus, and anterior cingulate cortex. In addition, they showed reduced functional connectivity between the medial PFC and right posterior middle temporal gyrus. Moreover, a regression with performance changes revealed a positive relation between performance increases and changes of frontoparietal connectivity, and a negative relation between performance increases and changes of default network connectivity. Next, to study whether experience-dependent effects would be different during development, we also examined practice effects in a pilot sample of 12-year-old children. No practice effects were found in this group, suggesting that practice-related changes of functional connectivity are age-dependent. Nevertheless, future studies with larger samples are necessary to confirm this hypothesis.

Copyright © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

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Figures

Figure 1

Figure 1

Effects of practice on functional connectivity with the right MFG and medial PFC in adults. (A) Right MFG showed increased connectivity after practice (yellow), which is overlaid on the regions that showed positive functional connectivity with right MFG before and/or after practice. (B) Medial PFC showed reduced connectivity after practice (blue), which is overlaid on the regions that showed positive functional connectivity with medial PFC before and/or after practice. Images are overlaid on a standard anatomical image. The left of the image is the right of the brain. Graphs represent mean _z_‐values before and after practice in 8 mm diameter spheres centered around the peak coordinates that showed changes of functional connectivity.

Figure 2

Figure 2

Changes of functional connectivity related to performance changes in adults. (A) Increased functional connectivity between right MFG and superior parietal cortex was related to accuracy increases. (B) Reduced functional connectivity between the medial PFC and the precuneus/PCC was related to decreased response times. Images are overlaid on a standard anatomical image. The left of the image is the right of the brain. Scatter plots denote within‐subject performance difference scores against connectivity differences scores (_z_‐values after training minus _z_‐values before training). The center line indicates the group‐mean effect; the outer lines indicate 95% confidence intervals. The correlation between performance changes and changes of _z_‐values in the ROIs was still significant when outliers were removed from the analyses. [Color figure can be viewed in the online issue, which is available at wileyonlinelibrary.com.]

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