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The Journal of Neuroscience, June 7, 2006, 26(23):6314-6317; doi:10.1523/JNEUROSCI.4628-05.2006

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Development/Plasticity/Repair
Temporal and Spatial Dynamics of Brain Structure Changes during Extensive Learning

Bogdan Draganski,¹ Christian Gaser,² Gerd Kempermann,³ H. Georg Kuhn,⁴ Jürgen Winkler,¹ Christian Büchel,⁵ and Arne May^1,5

¹Department of Neurology, University of Regensburg, 93053 Regensburg, Germany ²Department of Psychiatry, University of Jena, 07743 Jena, Germany, ³Max-Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine, 13092 Berlin, Germany, ⁴Institute for Neuroscience and Physiology, Gothenburg University, SE 405 30 Gothenburg, Sweden, and ⁵Department of Systems Neuroscience, University of Hamburg, 20246 Hamburg, Germany

Correspondence should be addressed to Dr. Arne May, Department of Systems Neuroscience, University of Hamburg, Martinistrasse 52, D-22046 Hamburg, Germany. Email: a.may{at}uke.uni-hamburg.de

The current view regarding human long-term memory as an active process of encoding and retrieval includes a highly specific learning-induced functional plasticity in a network of multiple memory systems. Voxel-based morphometry was used to detect possible structural brain changes associated with learning. Magnetic resonance images were obtained at three different time points while medical students learned for their medical examination. During the learning period, the gray matter increased significantly in the posterior and lateral parietal cortex bilaterally. These structural changes did not change significantly toward the third scan during the semester break 3 months after the exam. The posterior hippocampus showed a different pattern over time: the initial increase in gray matter during the learning period was even more pronounced toward the third time point. These results indicate that the acquisition of a great amount of highly abstract information may be related to a particular pattern of structural gray matter changes in particular brain areas.

Key words: brain; plasticity; posterior parietal cortex; hippocampus; memory; learning; voxel-based morphometry

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Received Oct. 28, 2005; revised March 28, 2006; accepted April 1, 2006.

Correspondence should be addressed to Dr. Arne May, Department of Systems Neuroscience, University of Hamburg, Martinistrasse 52, D-22046 Hamburg, Germany. Email: a.may{at}uke.uni-hamburg.de

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