Prof. Marco Taubert | Predispositions and exercise-induced plasticity in the human brain

Cognitive Neurology Lecture

  • Date: Feb 10, 2023
  • Time: 01:00 PM - 02:00 PM (Local Time Germany)
  • Speaker: Prof. Marco Taubert
  • Cognition & Action Research Group, Otto von Guericke University Magdeburg, Germany
  • Location: MPI for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences
  • Room: Wilhelm Wundt Room (A400) + Zoom Meeting (hybrid mode)
  • Host: Department of Neurology
The human neocortex is essential for cognition, action and perception.

Its complex morphology is tightly regulated by genetic factors, but is

also malleable by environmental influences throughout the lifespan.

Physical activity (e.g., aerobic exercise or learning new motor skills)

can modulate cortical areas and underlying white matter pathways, but

recent studies also highlight the fundamental role of more stable

morphological features of the neocortex in learning and performance. In

this talk I will focus on motor learning of a dynamic balance task. Our

results show that inter-individual differences in motor learning can be

predicted by variations in cortical folding in the supplemental motor

area (SMA). The SMA is also affected by structural and functional

plasticity in response to motor learning. Thus, learning appears to be

influenced by both predispositions and plasticity (or the interaction

between the two), and their specific contributions manifest as spatially

coincident but distinct features of cortical structure.
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