Brain plasticity dynamics during tactile Braille learning in sighted subjects: Multi-contrast MRI approach
Jacek Matuszewski,
Bartosz Kossowski,
Łukasz Bola,
Anna Banaszkiewicz,
Małgorzata Paplińska,
Lucien Gyger,
Ferath Kherif,
Marcin Szwed,
Richard S. Frackowiak,
Katarzyna Jednoróg,
Bogdan Draganski,
Artur Marchewka
Affiliations
Jacek Matuszewski
Laboratory of Brain Imaging, Nencki Institute of Experimental Biology, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland; Corresponding authors.
Bartosz Kossowski
Laboratory of Brain Imaging, Nencki Institute of Experimental Biology, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland
Łukasz Bola
Laboratory of Brain Imaging, Nencki Institute of Experimental Biology, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland; Institute of Psychology, Jagiellonian University, Krakow, Poland
Anna Banaszkiewicz
Laboratory of Brain Imaging, Nencki Institute of Experimental Biology, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland
Małgorzata Paplińska
Maria Grzegorzewska University, Warsaw, Poland
Lucien Gyger
LREN, Department for Clinical Neurosciences, CHUV, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland
Ferath Kherif
LREN, Department for Clinical Neurosciences, CHUV, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland
Marcin Szwed
Institute of Psychology, Jagiellonian University, Krakow, Poland
Richard S. Frackowiak
École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland
Katarzyna Jednoróg
Laboratory of Language Neurobiology, Nencki Institute of Experimental Biology, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland
Bogdan Draganski
LREN, Department for Clinical Neurosciences, CHUV, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland; Department of Neurology, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany
Artur Marchewka
Laboratory of Brain Imaging, Nencki Institute of Experimental Biology, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland; Corresponding authors.
A growing body of empirical evidence supports the notion of diverse neurobiological processes underlying learning-induced plasticity changes in the human brain. There are still open questions about how brain plasticity depends on cognitive task complexity, how it supports interactions between brain systems and with what temporal and spatial trajectory. We investigated brain and behavioural changes in sighted adults during 8-months training of tactile Braille reading whilst monitoring brain structure and function at 5 different time points. We adopted a novel multivariate approach that includes behavioural data and specific MRI protocols sensitive to tissue properties to assess local functional and structural and myelin changes over time. Our results show that while the reading network, located in the ventral occipitotemporal cortex, rapidly adapts to tactile input, sensory areas show changes in grey matter volume and intra-cortical myelin at different times. This approach has allowed us to examine and describe neuroplastic mechanisms underlying complex cognitive systems and their (sensory) inputs and (motor) outputs differentially, at a mesoscopic level.
