Clarification of and differences in functional changes in the brain due to motor learning including fast and slow motor learning from the perspectives of functional localization and brain networks

Abstract

This study aimed to elucidate the brain changes during motor learning progression and to identify the differences in brain changes between people with early and late motor learning progression. A total of 20 healthy individuals underwent near-infrared spectroscopy measurements during a serial reaction time task before and after motor learning, and the amount of activation and betweenness centrality in brain regions were compared before and after the task by two-way ANOVA with a generalized linear mixed model. The results showed that activation in the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, left orbitofrontal cortex, and left and right frontal poles decreased after motor learning, while the betweenness centrality of the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex increased after motor learning. The difference in motor learning between fast and slow learners was characterized by a reduction in the betweenness centrality of the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex in the fast learners and its increase in slow learners. Monitoring these areas may provide basic data to assist occupational therapists in selecting the optimal method of motor learning for each subject from the perspective of brain function practice that has been tailored to the subjects.