Visual perception with motor practice leads to lasting brain changes that support learning

The Promise of Discovery Season 5, Episode 4 This research explored how combining visual perception with motor practice—specifically drawing unfamiliar symbols—leads to lasting brain changes that support learning. Participants trained by drawing new letter-like symbols over four days while researchers tracked their brain activity using fMRI scans before, immediately after, and one-week post-training. The after-training scans revealed significant differences in activity within several brain regions—including the motor cortex—during the perception of trained compared to untrained symbols that were greater one-week post-training. This suggests that hands-on, visual-motor learning builds long-term changes in how the brain processes visual information, with potential implications for educational strategies and interventions. Featuring: Shelby Buettner, Graduate Student, Vanderbilt University Interviewer: Sophia Vinci-Booher, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Psychology & Human Development and a Vanderbilt Kennedy Center Member

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