Hamlyn Centre for Robotic Surgery, Imperial College London, UK.
Neuroimage. 2013 Jan 1;64:267-76. doi: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2012.08.056. Epub 2012 Aug 28.
Longitudinal changes in cortical function are known to accompany motor skills learning, and can be detected as an evolution in the activation map. These changes include attenuation in activation in the prefrontal cortex and increased activation in primary and secondary motor regions, the cerebellum and posterior parietal cortex. Despite this, comparatively little is known regarding the impact of the mode or type of training on the speed of activation map plasticity and on longitudinal variation in network architectures. To address this, we randomised twenty-one subjects to learn a complex motor tracking task delivered across six practice sessions in either "free-hand" or "gaze-contingent motor control" mode, during which frontoparietal cortical function was evaluated using functional near infrared spectroscopy. Results demonstrate that upon practice termination, gaze-assisted learners had achieved superior technical performance compared to free-hand learners. Furthermore, evolution in frontoparietal activation foci indicative of expertise was achieved at an earlier stage in practice amongst gaze-assisted learners. Both groups exhibited economical small world topology; however, networks in learners randomised to gaze-assistance were less costly and showed higher values of local efficiency suggesting improved frontoparietal communication in this group. We conclude that the benefits of gaze-assisted motor learning are evidenced by improved technical accuracy, more rapid task internalisation and greater neuronal efficiency. This form of assisted motor learning may have occupational relevance for high precision control such as in surgery or following re-learning as part of stroke rehabilitation.
已知皮质功能的纵向变化伴随着运动技能的学习，并且可以作为激活图的演变来检测。这些变化包括前额叶皮层激活的减弱和初级和次级运动区域、小脑和顶后叶皮层激活的增加。尽管如此，对于训练模式或类型对激活图可塑性的速度以及网络结构的纵向变化的影响，人们知之甚少。为了解决这个问题，我们将 21 名受试者随机分配到六次练习中，以“自由手”或“注视相关运动控制”模式学习一项复杂的运动跟踪任务，在此期间使用功能近红外光谱评估前额顶叶皮质功能。结果表明，在练习结束时，与自由手学习者相比，注视辅助学习者的技术表现更优。此外，在注视辅助学习者中，更早地出现了专业知识的前额顶叶激活焦点的演变。两组都表现出经济的小世界拓扑结构;然而，在被随机分配到注视辅助的学习者中，网络的成本更低，局部效率的值更高，这表明该组中前额顶叶的通信得到了改善。我们得出的结论是，注视辅助运动学习的好处体现在技术精度的提高、任务内化的更快以及神经元效率的提高。这种辅助运动学习的形式可能在手术等高精度控制或中风康复后的重新学习中具有职业相关性。
