Brain and spinal cord plasticity mechanisms mediating the fast learning phase of a motor memory trace

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Throughout our life, we learn new sequences of movements (e.g., playing the piano, typing, swinging a golf ball) so that these can be performed in a fast and automatic fashion after extensive practice. The advent of neuroimaging techniques that allow mapping brain activity in vivo during learning have led to a growing description of which human brain regions globally contribute to learning such motor skills. Nonetheless, current research does not provide yet a precise picture of how the activity of these brain structures are dynamically shaped by motor sequence practice, especially in the first step of learning during which the memory trace is created. The main objectives of this research program are thus to employ innovative, state of the art neuroimaging techniques in healthy humans to better comprehend how this crucial initial phase of learning dynamically shapes and alters the functioning of the numerous brain structures known to be engaged in motor skill acquisition, and in motor sequence learning (MSL) in particular. Furthermore, although a plethora of studies have already investigated the brain plasticity related to this form of memory, this field of research has completely neglected an important part of the central nervous system which lies between the brain and the motor effectors (e.g., muscles of the hand): the spinal cord that can be found within the vertebras. Functional activity within the latter has recently been shown to be modulated by a variety of motor tasks, but no researcher has yet looked at the role of the spinal cord in motor sequence learning. Through a multimodal electrophysiological-imaging approach, we thus propose to address this question. I expect that, for the first time, this work will increase our knowledge base on the interaction between brain and spinal cord in MSL, and that it will have major clinical applications for patients requesting rehabilitation.