Skill learning

doi:10.1017/CBO9780511544903.006

5 - Skill learning

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 12 August 2009

Edwin M. Robertson ,

Hugo Theoret and

Alvaro Pascual-Leone

Edited by

Simon Boniface and

Ulf Ziemann

Show author details

Edwin M. Robertson: Affiliation:
Behavioral Neurology Unit, Beth Israel Medical Center, Boston, MA, USA
Hugo Theoret: Affiliation:
Behavioral Neurology Unit, Beth Israel Medical Center, Boston, MA, USA
Alvaro Pascual-Leone: Affiliation:
Behavioral Neurology Unit, Beth Israel Medical Center, Boston, MA, USA
Simon Boniface: Affiliation:
Addenbrooke's Hospital, Cambridge
Ulf Ziemann: Affiliation:
Johann Wolfgang Goethe-Universität Frankfurt

Book contents

Get access

Summary

Plasticity as an intrinsic property of the brain

In the course of brain development, very complex processes take place to establish an intricate and highly specific network of millions of cells interconnected by billions of dendritic arborizations and synapses. It is reasonable to think that the brain might be resistant to change once development is completed, given the daunting complexity of these processes and of the resulting ‘end-product’. This notion of a rather static and unchanging brain was the pervasive belief for many years. However, in the meantime, it has become clear that this notion is wrong. The brain does not only undergo reorganization, but it is constantly reorganizing (Fuster, 1995; Kaas, 1997) and this entire volume provides ample support for the emerging concept of a dynamically changing brain.

The brain's capacity to change is referred to as plasticity and we might think of it as an intrinsic property of the human nervous system that persists throughout the human lifespan. An obvious example to lend support to this claim is the acquisition of new skills, to which the present chapter is devoted. The brain is designed to be able to change in response to changes in the environment. This is the mechanism for growth and development, but also for learning. In the process of learning, the brain has to change to be able to code for, and appropriately implement, the new knowledge.

Information

Type: Chapter
Information: Plasticity in the Human Nervous System
Investigations with Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation
, pp. 107 - 134

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511544903.006 [Opens in a new window]

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Print publication year: 2003

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Book purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Bara-Jimenez, W., Shelton, P., Sanger, T. D. & Hallett, M. (2000). Sensory discrimination capabilities in patients with focal hand dystonia. Ann. Neurol., 43: 377–3803.0.CO;2-2>CrossRef Google Scholar

Chen, R., Classen, J., Gerloff, C.. (1997). Depression of motor cortex excitability by low-frequency transcranial magnetic stimulation. Neurology, 48: 1398–1403CrossRef Google Scholar PubMed

Chollet, F. (2000). Plasticity of the adult human brain. In Brain Mapping: The Systems, ed. J. C. Mazziotta, A. W. Toga & R. S. Frackowiak, pp. 621–638. San Diego: Academic PressCrossRef

Chollet, F. & Weiller, C. (2000). Recovery of neurological function. In Brain Mapping: The Disorders, ed. J. C. Mazziotta, A. W. Toga & R. S. Frackowiak, pp. 587–597. San Diego: Academic PressCrossRef

Doyon, J., Owen, A. M., Petrides, M., Sziklas, V. & Evans, A. C. (1996). Functional anatomy of visuomotor skill learning in human subjects examined with positron emission tomography. Eur. J. Neurosci., 8: 637–648CrossRef Google Scholar PubMed

Doyon, J. (1997). Skill learning. Int. Rev. Neurobiol., 41: 273–294CrossRef Google Scholar PubMed

Doyon, J., Gaudreau, D., Laforce, R. Jr.. (1997). Role of the striatum, cerebellum, and frontal lobes in the learning of a visuomotor sequence. Brain Cogn., 34: 218–245CrossRef Google Scholar PubMed

Elbert, T., Pantev, C., Wienbruch, C., Rockstroh, B. & Taub, E. (1995). Increased cortical representation of the fingers of the left hand in string players. Science, 270: 305–307CrossRef Google Scholar PubMed

Elman, J. L. (1990). Finding structure in time. Cogn. Sci., 14: 179–211CrossRef Google Scholar

Ferbert, A., Priori, A., Rothwell, J. C., Day, B. L., Colebatch, J. G. & Mardsen, C. D. (1992). Interhemispheric inhibition of the human motor cortex. J. Physiol. (Lond.), 453: 525–546CrossRef Google Scholar PubMed

Fuster, J. M. (1995). Memory in the cerebral cortex. An Empirical Approach to Neural Networks in the Human and Nonhuman Primate. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press

Goldman-Rakic, P. (1987). Circuitry of primate prefrontal cortex and by representation of memory and the regulation of behaviour by representational memory. In Handbook of Physiology, ed. F. Plum & V. Mountcastle, vol. 5, pp. 373–417. Washington: American Physiological Society, Washington

Goldman-Rakic, P. (1998). The prefrontal landscape: implications of functional architecture for understanding human mentation and the central executive. In The Prefrontal Cortex: Executive and Cognitive Functions, ed. A. C. Roberts, T. W. Robbins & L. Weiskrantz, pp. 87–102. Oxford: Oxford University PressCrossRef

Gomez-Beldarrain, M., Grafman, J., Pascaul-Leone, A. & Garcia-Monoco, J. C. (1999). Procedural learning is impaired in patients with prefrontal lesions. Neurology, 52: 1853–1860CrossRef Google Scholar

Grafton, S. T., Mazziotta, J. C., Presty, S., Friston, K. J., Frackowiak, R. S. & Phelps, M. E. (1992). Functional anatomy of human procedural learning determined with regional cerebral blood flow and PET. J. Neurosci., 12: 2542–2548CrossRef Google Scholar PubMed

Grafton, S. T., Woods, R. P. & Tyszka, M. (1994). Functional imaging of procedural motor learning: relating cerebral blood flow with individual subject performance. Hum. Brain Mapp., 1: 221–234CrossRef Google Scholar PubMed

Grafton, S. T., Hazeltine, E. & Ivry, R. (1995). Functional anatomy of motor sequence learning in humans. J. Cogn. Neurosci., 7: 497–510CrossRef Google Scholar

Grafton, S. T., Hazeltine, E. & Ivry, R. B. (1998). Abstract and effector specific representations of motor sequences identified with PET. J. Neurosci., 18: 9420–9428CrossRef Google Scholar

Hazeltine, E., Grafton, S. T. & Ivry, R. (1997). Attention and stimulus characteristics determine the locus of motor-sequence encoding. A PET study. Brain, 120: 123–140CrossRef Google Scholar PubMed

Hazeltine, E. (2001). Ipsilateral sensorimotor regions and motor sequence learning. Trends Cogn. Sci., 5: 281–282CrossRef Google Scholar PubMed

Hikosaka, O., Nakahara, H., Rand, M. K.. (1999). Parallel neural networks for learning sequential procedures. Trends Neurosci., 22: 464–471CrossRef Google Scholar

Hilgetag, C. C., Theoret, H. & Pascual-Leone, A. (2001). Enhanced visual spatial attention ispsilateral to rTMS induces ‘virtual lesions’ of human parietal cortex. Nature Neurosci., 4: 953–957CrossRef Google Scholar

Honda, M., Deiber, M. P., Ibanez, V., Pascual-Leone, A., Zhuang, P. & Hallett, M. (1998). Dynamic cortical involvement in implicit and explicit motor sequence learning. A PET study. Brain, 121: 2159–2173CrossRef Google Scholar PubMed

Jordan, M. I. (1996). Serial Order: A Parallel Distributed Processing Approach. Hillside, NJ: Erlbum

Kaas, J. H. (1997). Functional Plasticity in Adult Cortex, vol. 9. Orlando, FL: Academic Press

Kaas, J. H. (2000). The reorganization of somatosensory and motor cortex after peripheral nerve or spinal cord injury in primates. Prog. Brain Res., 128: 173–179CrossRef Google Scholar PubMed

Karni, A. & Bertini, G. (1997). Learning perceptual skills: behavioural probes into adult cortical plasticity. Curr. Opin. Neurobiol., 7: 530–535CrossRef Google Scholar PubMed

Karni, A., Meyer, G., Jezzard, P., Adams, M. M., Turner, R. & Ungerleider, L. G. (1995). Functional MRI evidence for adult motor cortex plasticity during motor skill learning. Nature, 377: 155–158Google Scholar

Kiriakopoulos, E., Kauffman, T., Hamilton, R. & Pascual-Leone, A. (1999). Relationship between tactile acuity and cortical activation in early blind subjects. Neuroimage, 9: S571Google Scholar

Kosslyn, S. M., Pascual-Leone, A., Felician, O.. (1999). The role of area 17 in visual imagery: convergent evidence from PET and rTMS. Science, 284: 167–170CrossRef Google Scholar PubMed

Kujirai, T., Caramia, M. D., Rothwell, J. C., Day, B. L., Thompson, B. D. & Ferbert, A. (1993). Cortico-cortical inhibition in human motor cortex. J. Physiol. (Lond.), 471: 501–520CrossRef Google Scholar

Levy, R. & Goldmann-Rakic, P. S. (2000). Segregation of working memory function within the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. Exp. Brain Res., 133: 23–32CrossRef Google Scholar

Maeda, F., Keenan, J. P., Tormos, J. M., Topka, H. & Pascual-Leone, A. (2000). Modulation of cortico-spinal excitability by repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation. Clin. Neurophysiol., 111: 800–805CrossRef Google Scholar

Martin, T. A., Keating, J. G., Goodkin, H. P., Bastian, A. J. & Thach, W. T. (1996). Throwing while looking through prisms. II. Specificity and storage of multiple gaze throw calibrations. Brain, 119: 1199–1211CrossRef Google Scholar PubMed

Mottaghy, F. M., Gangitano, M., Sparing, R., Krause, B. J. & Pascual-Leone, A. (2002). Segregation of areas related to visual working memory in the prefrontal cortex revealed by rTMS. Cereb. Cortex, in pressCrossRef

Nissen, M. J. & Bullemer, P. (1987). Attentional requirements of learning: evidence from performance measures. Cogn. Psychol., 19: 1–32CrossRef Google Scholar

Pascual-Leone, A. (2001). The brain that plays music and is changed by it. In Music and the Brain, ed. R. Zatorre and I. Peretz. New York: New York Academy of SciencesCrossRef

Pascual-Leone, A. & Walsh, V. (2001). Fast backprojections from the motion to the primary visual area necessary for visual awareness. Science, 292: 510–512CrossRef Google Scholar

Pascual-Leone, A., Cammarota, A., Wassermann, E. M., Brasil-Neto, J. P., Cohen, L. G. & Hallett, M. (1993). Modulation of motor cortical outputs to the reading hand of braille readers. Ann. Neurol., 34: 33–37CrossRef Google Scholar PubMed

Pascual-Leone, A., Grafman, J. & Hallett, M. (1994). Modulation of cortical motor output maps during development of implicit and explicit knowledge. Science, 263: 1287–1289CrossRef Google Scholar

Pascual-Leone, A., Nguyet, D., Cohen, L. G., Brasil-Neto, J. P., Cammarota, A. & Hallett, M. (1995a). Modulation of muscle responses evoked by transcranial magnetic stimulation during the acquisition of new fine motor skills. J. Neurophysiol., 74: 1037–1045CrossRef Google Scholar

Pascual-Leone, A., Wassermann, E. M., Sadato, N. & Hallett, M. (1995b). The role of reading activity on the modulation of motor cortical outputs to the reading hand in braille readers. Ann. Neurol., 38: 910–915CrossRef Google Scholar

Pascual-Leone, A., Grafman, J. & Hallett, M. (1995c). Procedural learning and prefrontal cortex. Ann. NY Acad. Sci., 769: 61–70CrossRef Google Scholar

Pascual-Leone, A., Wassermann, E. M., Grafman, J. & Hallett, M. (1996). The role of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex in implicit procedural learning. Exp. Brain Res., 107: 479–485CrossRef Google Scholar PubMed

Pascual-Leone, A., Hamilton, R., Tormos, J. M., Keenan, J. & Catala, M. D. (1998a). Neuroplasticity in the adjustment to blindness. Neuroplasticity: Building a Bridge from the Laboratory to the Clinic, ed. J. Grafman & Y. Christen, pp. 93–108. Munich & New York: Springer-Verlag

Pascual-Leone, A., Tormos, J. M., Keenan, J., Tarazona, F., Canete, C. & Catala, M. D. (1998b). Study and modulation of human cortical excitability with transcranial magnetic stimulation. J. Clin. Neurophysiol., 15: 333–343CrossRef Google Scholar

Pascual-Leone, A., Tarazona, F. & Catalá, M. D. (1999). Applications of transcranial magnetic stimulation in studies on motor learning. In Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation, Supplement of Electroencephalography and Clinical Neurophysiology, EEG Suppl. 51, ed. W. Paulus, M. Hallett, P. M. Rossini & J. C. Rothwell

Pearce, A. J., Thickbroom, G. W., Byrnes, M. L. & Mastaglia, F. L. (2000). Functional reorganisation of the corticomotor projection to the hand in skilled racquet players. Exp. Brain Res., 130: 238–243CrossRef Google Scholar PubMed

Poldrack, R. A. (2000). Imaging brain plasticity: conceptual and methodological issues – a theoretical review. Neuroimage, 12: 1–13CrossRef Google Scholar

Pujol, J., Roset-Llobet, J., Rosines-Cubells, D.. (2000). Brain cortical activation during guitar-induced hand dystonia studied by functional MRI. Neuroimage, 12: 257–267CrossRef Google Scholar

Rauch, S. L., Savage, C. R., Brown, H. D.. (1995). A PET investigation of implicit and explicit sequence learning. Hum. Brain Mapp., 3: 271–286CrossRef Google Scholar

Ridding, M. C., Brouwer, B. & Nordstrom, M. A. (2000). Reduced interhemispheric inhibition in musicians. Exp. Brain Res., 133: 249–253CrossRef Google Scholar

Robertson, E. M. & Miall, R. C. (1999). Visuomotor adaptation during inactivation of the dentate nucleus. Neuroreport, 10: 1029–1034CrossRef Google Scholar

Robertson, E. M. & Pascual-Leone, A. (2001). Aspects of sensory guidance in sequence learning. Exp. Brain Res., 137: 336–345CrossRef Google Scholar

Robertson, E. M., Tormos, J. M., Maeda, F. & Pascual-Leone, A. (2001). The role of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex during sequence learning is specific for spatial information. Cereb. Cortex, 11: 628–635CrossRef Google Scholar

Romero, R., Anshel, D., Sparing, R., Gangitano, M. & Pascual-Leone, A. (2002). Subthreshold low frequency repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation selectively decreases facilitation in the motor cortex. Clin. Neurophysiol., 113: 101–107CrossRef Google Scholar PubMed

Schacter, D. L. & Buckner, R. L. (1998). On the relations among priming, conscious recollection, and intentional retrieval: evidence from neuroimaging research. Neurobiol. Learn. Mem., 70: 284–303CrossRef Google Scholar PubMed

Schlaug, G., Jancke, L., Huang, Y., Staiger, J. F. & Steinmetz, H. (1995). Increased corpus callosum size in musicians. Neuropsychologia, 33: 1047–1055CrossRef Google Scholar PubMed

Schnitzler, A., Kessler, K. R. & Benecke, R. (1996). Transcallosally mediated inhibition of interneurons within human primary motor cortex. Exp. Brain Res., 112: 381–391CrossRef Google Scholar PubMed

Theoret, H., Haque, J. & Pascual-Leone, A. (2001). Increased variability of paced finger tapping accuracy following repetitive magnetic stimulation of the cerebellum in humans. Neursci. Lett., 306: 29–32CrossRef Google Scholar

Boven, R. W., Hamilton, R. H., Kauffman, T., Keenan, J. P. & Pascual-Leone, A. (2000). Tactile spatial resolution in blind braille readers. Neurology, 54: 2230–2236CrossRef Google Scholar

van Mier H. (2000). Human learning. In Brain Mapping: The Systems, ed. J. C. Mazziotta, A. W. Toga & R. S. Frackowiak, pp. 605–620. San Diego: Academic Press

Willingham, D. B., Nissen, M. J. & Bullemer, P. (1989). On the development of procedural knowledge. J. Exp. Psychol. Learn. Mem. Cogn., 15: 1047–1060CrossRef Google Scholar PubMed

Accessibility standard: Unknown

Why this information is here

This section outlines the accessibility features of this content - including support for screen readers, full keyboard navigation and high-contrast display options. This may not be relevant for you.

Accessibility Information

Accessibility compliance for the PDF of this book is currently unknown and may be updated in the future.