How recent learning shapes the brain: Memory-dependent functional reconfiguration of brain circuits

Roberta Passiatore; Linda A Antonucci; Sabine Bierstedt; Manojkumar Saranathan; Alessandro Bertolino; Boris Suchan; Giulio Pergola

doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2021.118636

How recent learning shapes the brain: Memory-dependent functional reconfiguration of brain circuits

Neuroimage. 2021 Dec 15:245:118636. doi: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2021.118636. Epub 2021 Oct 9.

Authors

Roberta Passiatore¹, Linda A Antonucci², Sabine Bierstedt³, Manojkumar Saranathan⁴, Alessandro Bertolino⁵, Boris Suchan³, Giulio Pergola⁶

Affiliations

¹ Department of Basic Medical Sciences, Neuroscience and Sense Organs, University of Bari Aldo Moro, Piazza Giulio Cesare, 11, Bari, IT 70124, Italy; Tri-Institutional Center for Translational Research in Neuroimaging and Data Science (TReNDS), Georgia State University, Georgia Institute of Technology, Emory University, Atlanta GA 30303, United States.
² Department of Basic Medical Sciences, Neuroscience and Sense Organs, University of Bari Aldo Moro, Piazza Giulio Cesare, 11, Bari, IT 70124, Italy; Department of Education, Psychology and Communication Science, University of Bari Aldo Moro, Bari, IT 70121, Italy.
³ Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, Clinical Neuropsychology, Ruhr University Bochum, Bochum, DE 44801, Germany.
⁴ Department of Medical Imaging, University of Arizona, Tucson AZ 85724, United States.
⁵ Department of Basic Medical Sciences, Neuroscience and Sense Organs, University of Bari Aldo Moro, Piazza Giulio Cesare, 11, Bari, IT 70124, Italy.
⁶ Department of Basic Medical Sciences, Neuroscience and Sense Organs, University of Bari Aldo Moro, Piazza Giulio Cesare, 11, Bari, IT 70124, Italy; Lieber Institute for Brain Development, Johns Hopkins Medical Campus, Baltimore MD 21205, United States. Electronic address: [email protected].

PMID: 34637904
DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2021.118636

Abstract

The process of storing recently encoded episodic mnestic traces so that they are available for subsequent retrieval is accompanied by specific brain functional connectivity (FC) changes. In this fMRI study, we examined the early processing of memories in twenty-eight healthy participants performing an episodic memory task interposed between two resting state sessions. Memory performance was assessed through a forced-choice recognition test after the scanning sessions. We investigated resting state system configuration changes via Independent Component Analysis by cross-modeling baseline resting state spatial maps onto the post-encoding resting state, and post-encoding resting state spatial maps onto baseline. We identified both persistent and plastic components of the overall brain functional configuration between baseline and post-encoding. While FC patterns within executive, default mode, and cerebellar circuits persisted from baseline to post-encoding, FC within the visual circuit changed. A significant session × performance interaction characterized medial temporal lobe and prefrontal cortex FC with the visual circuit, as well as thalamic FC within the executive control system. Findings reveal early-stage FC changes at the system-level subsequent to a learning experience and associated with inter-individual variation in memory performance.

Keywords: Episodic memory; Functional connectivity; Independent component analysis; Learning; Resting state; System configuration.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Adult
Brain Mapping / methods*
Female
Healthy Volunteers
Humans
Learning*
Magnetic Resonance Imaging*
Male
Memory, Episodic*
Neural Pathways / diagnostic imaging*