College of Information Science and Technology, Beijing Normal University Beijing, China.
Paul C. Lauterbur Research Centers for Biomedical Imaging, Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences Shenzhen, China.
Front Hum Neurosci. 2013 Dec 16;7:866. doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2013.00866. eCollection 2013.
Motor imagery training is an effective approach for motor skill learning and motor function rehabilitation. As a novel method of motor imagery training, real-time fMRI (rtfMRI) enables individuals to acquire self-control of localized brain activation, achieving desired changes in behavior. The regulation of target region activation by rtfMRI often alters the activation of related brain regions. However, the interaction between the target region and these related regions is unclear. The Granger causality model (GCM) is a data-driven method that can explore the causal interaction between brain regions. In this study, we employed rtfMRI to train subjects to regulate the activation of the ipsilateral dorsal premotor area (dPMA) during motor imagery training, and we calculated the causal interaction of the dPMA with other motor-related regions based on the GCM. The results demonstrated that as the activity of the dPMA changed during rtfMRI training, the interaction of the target region with other related regions became significantly altered, and behavioral performance was improved after training. The altered interaction primarily exhibited as an increased unidirectional interaction from the dPMA to the other regions. These findings support the dominant role of the dPMA in motor skill learning via rtfMRI training and may indicate how activation of the target region interacts with the activation of other related regions.
运动想象训练是一种有效的运动技能学习和运动功能康复方法。作为运动想象训练的一种新方法，实时功能磁共振成像（rtfMRI）使个体能够获得对局部脑激活的自我控制，从而实现行为的预期改变。rtfMRI 对目标区域激活的调节通常会改变相关脑区域的激活。然而，目标区域与这些相关区域之间的相互作用尚不清楚。格兰杰因果模型（GCM）是一种数据驱动的方法，可以探索脑区之间的因果相互作用。在这项研究中，我们采用 rtfMRI 训练受试者在运动想象训练期间调节对侧背侧运动前区（dPMA）的激活，并且我们根据 GCM 计算了 dPMA 与其他运动相关区域的因果相互作用。结果表明，随着 rtfMRI 训练过程中 dPMA 活性的变化，目标区域与其他相关区域的相互作用发生了显著改变，并且在训练后行为表现得到了改善。改变的相互作用主要表现为从 dPMA 到其他区域的单向相互作用增加。这些发现支持了通过 rtfMRI 训练 dPMA 在运动技能学习中的主导作用，并可能表明目标区域的激活如何与其他相关区域的激活相互作用。
