ArticlePLoS biology2021
Rapid microstructural plasticity in the cortical semantic network following a short language learning session.
Article in PLoS biology, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 15 papers.
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Who cites it
15 citing papers in PubMed.
- Pathogenic O-GlcNAc dyshomeostasis is associated with cortical malformations and hyperactivity.eLife · 2026Article
- Action verbs and demonstrative pronouns affect volumetric affordance activation.Memory & cognition · 2026Article
- The Tuned Cortex: Convergent Expertise-Related Structural and Functional Remodeling across the Adult Lifespan.The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience · 2026Article
- In vivo mapping of infant brain microstructure with neurite orientation dispersion and density imaging.Brain structure & function · 2025Review
- Innate network mechanisms of temporal pole for semantic cognition in neonatal and adult twin studies.Nature communications · 2025Article
- Long-term motor training enhances functional connectivity between semantic and motor regions in an effector-specific manner: evidence from elite female football athletes.Brain structure & function · 2024Article
- The effects of locus coeruleus ablation on mouse brain volume and microstructure evaluated by high-field MRI.Frontiers in cellular neuroscience · 2024Article
- Neuroimaging to Facilitate Clinical Trials in Huntington's Disease: Current Opinion from the EHDN Imaging Working Group.Journal of Huntington's disease · 2024Review
- Changes in Cortical Microstructure of the Human Brain Resulting from Long-Term Motor Learning.The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience · 2023Article
- Breakdown of category-specific word representations in a brain-constrained neurocomputational model of semantic dementia.Scientific reports · 2023Article
- Brain-constrained neural modeling explains fast mapping of words to meaning.Cerebral cortex (New York, N.Y. : 1991) · 2023Article
- Brain Signatures of Embodied Semantics and Language: A Consensus Paper.Journal of cognition · 2023Article
- Locus coeruleus and the defensive activation theory of rapid eye movement sleep: A mechanistic perspective.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2023Article
- Targeted neurorehabilitation strategies in post-stroke aphasia.Restorative neurology and neuroscience · 2023Review
- Has the concept of systems consolidation outlived its usefulness? Identification and evaluation of premises underlying systems consolidation.Faculty reviews · 2022Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Despite the clear importance of language in our life, our vital ability to quickly and effectively learn new words and meanings is neurobiologically poorly understood. Conventional knowledge maintains that language learning-especially in adulthood-is slow and laborious. Furthermore, its structural basis remains unclear. Even though behavioural manifestations of learning are evident near instantly, previous neuroimaging work across a range of semantic categories has largely studied neural changes associated with months or years of practice. Here, we address rapid neuroanatomical plasticity accompanying new lexicon acquisition, specifically focussing on the learning of action-related language, which has been linked to the brain's motor systems. Our results show that it is possible to measure and to externally modulate (using transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) of motor cortex) cortical microanatomic reorganisation after mere minutes of new word learning. Learning-induced microstructural changes, as measured by diffusion kurtosis imaging (DKI) and machine learning-based analysis, were evident in prefrontal, temporal, and parietal neocortical sites, likely reflecting integrative lexico-semantic processing and formation of new memory circuits immediately during the learning tasks. These results suggest a structural basis for the rapid neocortical word encoding mechanism and reveal the causally interactive relationship of modal and associative brain regions in supporting learning and word acquisition.
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