In conclusion, the motor engram of the sequential finger tapping is formed in the M1-
centered parietal-premotor network, which is recruited by the M1 during the task
performance.
7. Acknoledgement
Firstly, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my advisor Prof.
Norihiro Sadato for the continuous support of my Ph.D study and related research, for
his patience, motivation, and immense knowledge. His guidance helped me in all the
time of research and writing of this thesis.
My sincere gratitude goes to Dr. Sho K. Sugawara and Dr. Masaki Fukunaga
for providing me an opportunity to join the team and encouraging me with all the
support and assistances throughout my experiment and past these 5 years of my Ph.D
course. I would like to thank to other laboratory members who helped and made my experiment successful.
Besides my laboratory members, my special appreciation goes to Dr. Robert
Turner for advising and encouraging me with his all the knowledge, research ideas and
passion.
Last but not the least, I would like to thank my family: my parents and my
brothers for supporting me spiritually throughout writing this thesis and my life in
general. Words cannot be expressed enough.
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9. Figures
Figure 1. The block design of fMRI runs.
The task was consisted of 3 runs with total of 25 epochs of constant-speed mode (C1 to
C25) and 12 epochs of maximum mode (M1 to M12). On the screen, four blue circles
were aligned within an equally spaced horizontal array, corresponding to the left-hand
fingers through the spatial arrangement of the buttons. The duration of each epoch of C
block was 15 sec, and that during M block was 30 sec.
Figure 2 Statistical analysis with general linear model at individual level (top left). The
parameter estimates were incorporated into the group-level analysis with flexible
factorial design (bottom left). Concatenation of the residual time-series data for ECM
analysis (right).
Performance
0 10 20 30 40
50 60 70 80
100 200 300 400
PI at maximum mode RT at constant mode variability of RT
Epoch
PI RT (ms)
Figure 3. Performance in maximum mode (green shed) and constant mode. The
performance of maximum mode was measured by performance index (PI, blue filled
circle). Reaction time (RT, ms, red filled circle) from the visual cue and the tap during
constant mode and their variability regarding the standard deviation (black filled circle)
are also plotted. Data points represent group means for each epoch, and error bars
indicate the standard error of the mean.
10 20 30 40
-2 -1 0 1 2
-100 -50 0 50 100
PI at maximum mode RT at constant mode variability of RT
* *
Epoch
PI RT (ms),-SD
Figure 4. Performance transfer. The change of PI from the last epoch of the
preceding maximum mode block to that of the first epoch of the following maximum
mode block (blue filled circle) was plotted between the consecutive maximum mode
blocks. * P< 0.001. The change in RT (red filled circle) and variability of RT (black
filled circle) in the consecutive constant blocks were plotted in the same format. Data
points represent group means for each epoch, and error bars indicate the standard error of the mean.
0 10 20 30 40 0.15
0.20 0.25 0.30 0.35
0.00 0.02 0.04 0.06 0.08
TT (s) Error Rate
Epoch
Transition Time (s) Error rate
10 20 30 40
-0.005 0.000 0.005 0.010 0.015
-0.005 0.000 0.005 0.010 0.015
-Error rate
Transition time (s)
Epoch
Transition time Error rate
Figure 5. The performance of the maximum mode (top). The change of speed
(regarding transition time, TT, blue filled circle) and the error rate (red filled circle) are
plotted as group means for each epoch with an error bar of the standard error of the
mean. Learning transfer from the constant mode (bottom). The change of TT (blue filled
circle) and error rate (red filled circle) from the last epoch of the preceding maximum
mode block to that of the first epoch of the following maximum mode block were
plotted between the consecutive maximum mode blocks. Data points represent group
means for each epoch, and error bars indicate the standard error of mean.
Figure 6. Motor engram generated by maximum mode training
Conjunction analysis of the linear increase of EC during rest epoch and the task related
increase of EC. P< 0.05 corrected at the cluster level, with height threshold Z > 3.09
(Friston et al. 1996). CS, central sulcus.
Figure 7. Learning related enhancement of the functional connectivity with the left aIPS
(seed, green) by maximum mode training (blue). P< 0.05 corrected at the cluster level,
with height threshold Z > 3.09 (Friston et al. 1996).
Figure 8. Motor engram generated by constant mode training
Conjunction analysis of the linear increase of EC during rest epoch and the task related
increase of EC. P< 0.05 corrected at the cluster level, with height threshold Z > 3.09
(Friston et al. 1996). CS, central sulcus.
Figure 9. Task-related activity linearly increased by both constant and maximum modes.
The focus of activation on a pseudocolor fMRI superimposed on a high-resolution
anatomical MRI in the coronal (upper left), sagittal (upper right) and transaxial (lower
left) planes, sectioned at (38, -24, 64) corresponding to the primary motor cortex
(Brodmann area 4). Conjunction analysis of the linear increase of the task-related
activation of contant and maximum modes (lower right). P< 0.05 corrected at the cluster
level, with height threshold Z > 3.09 (Friston et al. 1996). CS, central sulcus.
10. Tables
Table 1. Brain areas showing both the learning-related increase in rest-state
eigenvector centrality and the task-related increase in eigenvector centrality
during maximum mode
Cluster size
(mm3) p value Anatomical location Hem Broadmann area
MNI Coordinates
Z value
x y z
528 1.42 × 10-7 Intraparietal sulcus L 40/7 -45 -42 57 5.00
Inferior parietal lobule L 40 -54 -33 51 3.65
Inferior parietal lobule L 40 -39 -36 51 4.15
Note. Statistical threshold was FEW corrected p < .05 at the cluster level with the height
threshold of Z > 3.09. x, y, and z are stereotaxic coordinates (mm). Hem, Hemisphere;
R, Right; L, Left.
Table 2. Brain areas showing both the learning-related increase in rest-state eigenvector centrality and the task-related increase in eigenvector centrality
during constant mode
Cluster size
(mm3) p value Anatomical location Hem Broadmann area
MNI Coordinates
Z value
x y z
368 1.13×10-5 Precentral gyrus L 4 -36 -15 63 3.52
Superior frontal sulcus L 6 -33 -6 63 4.60
1064 1.39×10-12 Postcentral gyrus R 2 45 -27 60 4.29
Precentral gyrus R 4 42 -12 54 4.16
Superior frontal sulcus R 6 24 -9 51 4.34
Note. Statistical threshold was FEW corrected p < .05 at the cluster level with the height
threshold of Z > 3.09. x, y, and z are stereotaxic coordinates (mm). Hem, Hemisphere;
R, Right; L, Left.