ReviewTrends in cognitive sciences2017
Expansion and Renormalization of Human Brain Structure During Skill Acquisition.
Review in Trends in cognitive sciences, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 85 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
85 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Aerobic exercise training effects on hippocampal volume in healthy older individuals: a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.GeroScience · 2024Pooled it
- Training-Induced Neural Plasticity in Youth: A Systematic Review of Structural and Functional MRI Studies.Frontiers in human neuroscience · 2020Pooled it
- Exercise-Induced Neuroplasticity in Parkinson's Disease: A Metasynthesis of the Literature.Neural plasticity · 2020Pooled it
- Online stimulation of the prefrontal cortex during practice increases motor variability and modulates later cognitive transfer: a randomized, double-blinded and sham-controlled tDCS study.Scientific reports · 2024Trial
- Priming cardiovascular exercise improves complex motor skill learning by affecting the trajectory of learning-related brain plasticity.Scientific reports · 2022Trial
- Viewing Pictures Triggers Rapid Morphological Enlargement in the Human Visual Cortex.Cerebral cortex (New York, N.Y. : 1991) · 2020Trial
- Effects of a Highly Challenging Balance Training Program on Motor Function and Brain Structure in Parkinson's Disease.Journal of Parkinson's diseaseTrial
- Early Multimodal Motor Training After Stroke Promotes Motor Recovery and Whole-Brain Structural Remodeling.Journal of the American Heart Association · 2026Article
- Gray Matter Morphological Networks are Associated with Neurobiological Features, Cognitive Status and Clinical Recovery in Traumatic Brain Injury.medRxiv : the preprint server for health sciences · 2026Article
- Gradual consolidation of skilled sequential movements in primary motor cortex of non-human primates.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- One-month early time-restricted eating mitigates brain aging and enhances memory in males with metabolic syndrome: an MRI structural study.Frontiers in aging · 2026Article
- Long-term intensive golf training induces reconfiguration of brain structural covariance networks.PloS one · 2026Article
- Cortical morphology and cognitive impairments in adolescents with complex congenital heart disease.Brain communications · 2026Article
- Spatial development of brain networks during the first six postnatal months.Communications biology · 2025Article
- Subcortical gray matter aging and attentional control in amateur musicians and nonmusicians.Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences · 2025Article
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- Longitudinal Changes of Quantitative Brain Tissue Properties Induced by Balance Training.Human brain mapping · 2025Article
- Structural and functional alterations in the contralateral hemisphere following pediatric intracranial surgery: a pilot longitudinal neuroimaging study.Frontiers in human neuroscience · 2025Article
25 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Research on human brain changes during skill acquisition has revealed brain volume expansion in task-relevant areas. However, the large number of skills that humans acquire during ontogeny militates against plasticity as a perpetual process of volume growth. Building on animal models and available theories, we promote the expansion-renormalization model for plastic changes in humans. The model predicts an initial increase of gray matter structure, potentially reflecting growth of neural resources like neurons, synapses, and glial cells, which is followed by a selection process operating on this new tissue leading to a complete or partial return to baseline of the overall volume after selection has ended. The model sheds new light on available evidence and current debates and fosters the search for mechanistic explanations.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.