The learning-relative hemodynamic modulation of cortical plasticity induced by a force-control motor training.

Background: Novel motor skills are generally acquired through repetitive practices which are believed to be strongly related to neural plasticity mechanisms. This study aimed to investigate the learning-relative hemodynamic modulation of cortical plasticity induced by long-term motor training. Methods: An 8-day participation-control program was conducted. Eighteen right-handed healthy participants were recruited and randomly assigned into the training (12) and control groups (6). The training group were arranged to undergo the 8-day block-designed motor training which required to repeat a visuomotor force-control task. The functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) was used to continuously monitor the cortical hemodynamic response during training. Two transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) measurements were performed before and after training to evaluate the cortical excitability changes. The transfer effects of learning were also investigated. Results: The behavior performance was quantified Conclusion: The study illustrated the expansion-renormalization trends during continuous motor training, and relative analysis showed the functional connectivity enhancement may be maintained after amplitude renormalization of cortical hemodynamic activations. The TMS findings further gave an implication of neural facilitations on the descending motor pathway when brain activation returned to renormalization status after certain level of learning stages was achieved, and the learning can transfer to enhance the performance while encountering similar tasks.