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The Journal of Neuroscience, July 9, 2008, 28(28):7031-7035; doi:10.1523/JNEUROSCI.0742-08.2008

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Development/Plasticity/Repair
Training-Induced Brain Structure Changes in the Elderly

Janina Boyke,¹ Joenna Driemeyer,¹ Christian Gaser,² Christian Büchel,¹ and Arne May¹

¹Department of Systems Neuroscience, University of Hamburg, D-22046 Hamburg, Germany, and ²Department of Psychiatry, University of Jena, 07740 Jena, Germany

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

It has been suggested that learning is associated with a transient and highly selective increase in brain gray matter in healthy young volunteers. It is not clear whether and to what extent the aging brain is still able to exhibit such structural plasticity. We built on our original study, now focusing on healthy senior citizens. We observed that elderly persons were able to learn three-ball cascade juggling, but with less proficiency compared with 20-year-old adolescents. Similar to the young group, gray-matter changes in the older brain related to skill acquisition were observed in area hMT/V5 (middle temporal area of the visual cortex). In addition, elderly volunteers who learned to juggle showed transient increases in gray matter in the hippocampus on the left side and in the nucleus accumbens bilaterally.

Key words: age; brain; plasticity; learning; voxel-based morphometry; hippocampus

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Received Feb. 18, 2008; revised April 17, 2008; accepted May 22, 2008.

Correspondence should be addressed to Dr. Arne May, Assistant Professor of Neurology, 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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