Increased functional connectivity between cortical hand areas and praxis network associated with training-related improvements in non-dominant hand precision drawing.

ABSTRACT: Chronic forced use of the non-dominant left hand yields substantial improvements in the precision and quality of writing and drawing. These changes may arise from increased access by the non-dominant (right) hemisphere to dominant (left) hemisphere mechanisms specialized for end-point precision control. To evaluate this prediction, 22 healthy right-handed adults underwent resting state functional connectivity (FC) MRI scans before and after 10 days of training on a left hand precision drawing task. 89% of participants significantly improved left hand speed, accuracy, and smoothness. Smoothness gains were specific to the trained left hand and persistent: 6 months after training, 71% of participants exhibited above-baseline movement smoothness. Contrary to expectations, we found no evidence

SUBMITTER: Philip BA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4903896 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature