[BIC-announce] Seminar in Biomedical Engineering - Wednesday Oct 23rd - 1 pm - Room 321 (ROOM CHANGED !)

[Christophe Grova]

Dear all,

We will have our next Biomedical Engineering seminar this coming Wednesday

Wednesday - October 30th,  at 1 pm

Location: Room  321 Lyman Duff Building (Biomedical Engineering Dpt, 3775
University Street).

Be careful, for this time the seminar will take place exceptionally in room
321.

 
Speaker: Dr. Shahabeddin Vahdat PhD, postdoc fellow under the supervision of
Drs H. Benali and  J. Doyon, at Centre de Recherche de l'Institut de
Gériatrie de Montréal, Université de Montréal

Title: Neural correlates of motor and perceptual learning in the human
resting brain

Abstract: 
            Research on plasticity in motor systems has for the most part
developed separately from work on sensory plasticity, as if training-induced
changes to the brain affected each of these systems in isolation. The aim of
this presentation is to explore the association between the sensory and
motor systems when a new skill is acquired. I will focus on two hypotheses
about neuroplasticity: (i) that motor learning changes perceptual function
and the function of somatosensory areas of the brain, and (ii) that
somatosensory training changes both motor function and motor areas of the
brain.

 The first part of the presentation reports on a combined psychophysical and
neuroimaging procedure to examine the connection between changes in the
behavior and brain as a result of motor learning [1-3]. We used a dynamics
adaptation task as a model of motor learning in conjunction with
somatosensory discrimination of the limb`s movement direction which permits
quantification of perceptual changes that occurs in conjunction with motor
learning. We used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to calculate
measures of functional connectivity during resting-state periods following
learning. This technique allowed us to study longer lasting plasticity in
the sensorimotor system, during the period in which the motor memory is
being consolidated. We identified a new network in motor learning involving
second somatosensory cortex, ventral premotor cortex and supplementary motor
area whose activation is specifically related to perceptual changes that
occur in conjunction with motor learning.

The second part of the presentation aims at testing the second hypothesis
described above. We found that somatosensory discrimination training
combined with periods of passive movement as short as 45 minutes increased
functional connectivity between sensory and motor areas of the brain and,
importantly, in motor areas alone [4-5]. Sensory repetition without
perceptual learning was less able to induce plasticity in the motor system.
Overall, our studies point to a unified model of sensorimotor plasticity in
which the effects of learning are not local to either sensory or motor
systems, but rather each has effects that spread into functionally related
areas of the brain beyond the base modality.

 
[1] Vahdat S, Darainy M, Milner TE, Ostry DJ (2011) Functionally specific
changes in resting-state sensorimotor networks after motor learning. Journal
of neuroscience, 31:16907-16915.

[2] Vahdat S, Maneshi M, Grova C, Gotman J, Milner TE (2012) Shared and
Specific Independent Components Analysis for Between-Group Comparison.
Neural Computation.

[3] Ostry DJ, Darainy M, Mattar AA, Wong J, Gribble PL (2010) Somatosensory
plasticity and motor learning. Journal of neuroscience, 30:5384-5393.

[4] Darainy M, Vahdat S, Ostry DJ (2013) Perceptual Learning in Sensorimotor
Adaptation. Journal of Neurophysiology.
[5] Vahdat S, Darainy M , Ostry DJ, Structure of plasticity in human sensory
and motor networks as a result of perceptual learning, Submitted to Journal
of Neuroscience 

 

A list of upcoming seminars can be found at :
http://www.mcgill.ca/bme/news/seminars

See you there 

 
Christophe Grova 

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Christophe Grova, PhD

Assistant Professor

Biomedical Engineering Dpt

Neurology and Neurosurgery Dpt

 

Multimodal Functional Imaging Lab (Multi FunkIm)

Montreal Neurological Institute

Centre de Recherches en Mathématiques

 

Biomedical Engineering Department - Room 304

McGill University

3775 University Street, Montreal, Quebec, Canada,

H3A 2B4 

email : christophe.grova at mcgill.ca <mailto:christophe.grova at mcgill.ca>

tel : (514) 398 2516

fax : (514) 398 7461

 

Web:

http://www.bic.mni.mcgill.ca/ResearchLabsMFIL/PeopleChristophe

http://www.bmed.mcgill.ca/

MultiFunkIm Lab:

http://www.bic.mni.mcgill.ca/ResearchLabsMFIL/HomePage

 

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