Cognitive Neuroscience Unit, School of Psychology, Deakin University, Geelong, Australia.
Cognitive Neuroscience Unit, School of Psychology, Deakin University, Geelong, Australia.
Brain Cogn. 2024 Oct;180:106204. doi: 10.1016/j.bandc.2024.106204. Epub 2024 Jul 24.
In adults, individual differences in procedural learning (PL) are associated with white matter organization within the basal ganglia-cerebellar circuit. However, no research has examined whether this circuitry is related to individual differences in PL during childhood. Here, 28 children (M = 10.00 ± 2.31, 10 female) completed the serial reaction time (SRT) task to measure PL, and underwent structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Fixel-Based Analysis was performed to extract specific measures of white matter fiber density (FD) and fiber cross-section (FC) from the superior cerebellar peduncles (SCP) and the striatal premotor tracts (STPMT), which underlie the fronto-basal ganglia-cerebellar system. These fixel metrics were correlated with the 'rebound effect' from the SRT task - a measure of PL proficiency which compares reaction times associated with generating a sequence, to random trials. While no significant associations were observed at the fixel level, a significant positive association was observed between average FD in the right SCP and the rebound effect, with a similar trend observed in the left SCP. No significant effects were detected in the STPMT. Our results indicate that, like in adults, microstructure of the basal ganglia-cerebellar circuit may explain individual differences in childhood PL.
在成年人中，程序性学习（PL）的个体差异与基底节-小脑回路内的白质组织有关。然而，尚无研究探讨该回路是否与儿童时期 PL 的个体差异有关。在这里，28 名儿童（M=10.00±2.31，10 名女性）完成了序列反应时间（SRT）任务以衡量 PL，并进行了结构磁共振成像（MRI）。基于体素的分析用于从小脑上脚（SCP）和纹状体运动前束（STPMT）提取白质纤维密度（FD）和纤维横截面积（FC）的特定测量值，这些结构构成了额基底节-小脑系统。这些体素指标与 SRT 任务的“反弹效应”相关，该效应是衡量 PL 熟练程度的指标，它比较了生成序列和随机试验时的反应时间。尽管在体素水平上未观察到显著关联，但在右侧 SCP 的平均 FD 与反弹效应之间观察到显著的正相关，在左侧 SCP 中也观察到类似的趋势。在 STPMT 中未检测到显著影响。我们的结果表明，与成年人一样，基底节-小脑回路的微观结构可能可以解释儿童 PL 的个体差异。
