The earliest stages of sensorimotor learning involve learning the correspondence between movements and sensory results: a sensorimotor map. The present exploratory study investigated the neurochemical underpinnings of sensorimotor map acquisition by monitoring twenty-five participants as they acquired a new association between movements and sounds. Functional magnetic resonance spectroscopy (fMRS) was used to measure neurochemical concentrations in left primary motor cortex during learning. Resting state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rsfMRI) was also collected before and after training to assess learning-related changes in functional connectivity. There were monotonic increases in γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) and decreases in glucose during training, which extended into the subsequent rest period and, importantly, in the case of GABA correlated with the amount of learning: participants who showed greater behavioral learning showed greater GABA increase. The GABA change was furthermore correlated with changes in functional connectivity between primary motor cortex and a cluster of voxels in the right intraparietal sulcus (IPS): greater increases in GABA were associated with greater strengthening of connectivity. Transiently, there were increases in lactate and reductions in aspartate, which returned to baseline at the end of training but only lactate showed a statistical trend to correlate with the amount of learning. In sum, during the earliest stages of sensorimotor learning, GABA levels are linked on a subject level basis to both behavioral learning and to a strengthening of functional connections that persists beyond the training period. The findings are consistent with the idea that GABA-mediated inhibition is linked to maintenance of newly learned information.

中文翻译：

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感觉运动图获取的早期阶段：初级运动皮层的神经化学特征及其与功能连接的关系

感觉运动学习的最早阶段涉及学习运动和感觉结果之间的对应关系：感觉运动图。本探索性研究通过监测 25 名参与者获得运动和声音之间的新关联，调查了感觉运动图获取的神经化学基础。功能磁共振波谱 (fMRS) 用于测量学习过程中左侧初级运动皮层的神经化学浓度。还在训练前后收集静息状态功能磁共振成像 (rsfMRI)，以评估功能连接中与学习相关的变化。训练期间 γ-氨基丁酸 (GABA) 单调增加，葡萄糖减少，并延续到随后的休息期，重要的是，在 GABA 与学习量相关的情况下：表现出更多行为学习的参与者表现出更大的 GABA 增加。GABA 的变化进一步与初级运动皮层和右侧顶内沟 (IPS) 中的体素簇之间的功能连接的变化相关：GABA 的更大增加与更大程度的连接增强相关。短暂地，乳酸增加和天冬氨酸减少，在训练结束时恢复到基线，但只有乳酸显示出与学习量相关的统计趋势。总之，在感觉运动学习的最早阶段，GABA 水平在学科层面上与行为学习和在训练期后持续存在的功能联系的加强相关联。