How Our Brain Masters Movement

Even though skills like riding a bike or hitting a soccer ball are easy and expected to be learned, we are not born knowing how to do those things. These are skills we build over time – step by step, until one day it clicks. When we learn a new activity, such as running, riding a bike, or an exercise in a gym, what happens in our brain?

A recent study by Roth and Ding (2024) called “Cortico-basal ganglia plasticity in motor learning” reveals what is happening behind the surface. Every action we perform causes our brains to change their structures. The study focuses on two brain regions, the motor cortex and the dorsolateral striatum. Collaboration of these two regions is known as a cortico-basal ganglia circuit that helps us decide what and how we move, and plans and refines our movement. As we learn a new skill, these areas adjust and reorganize themselves rather than just giving a command. According to this study, these regions become more coordinated during motor learning, exhibiting expanding clusters of dendritic spines and precise neuronal firing sequences. These adjustments are necessary for learning to stick with us for a long period of time. Additionally, as the skill that we learned becomes more automatic, the striatum takes over and the motor cortex becomes less involved.

Another study that was conducted by Fu et al. (2012) called “Repetitive motor learning induces coordinated formation of clustered dendritic spines in vivo” showed that repeating the same task multiple times, also called repetitive motor learning, causes new dendritic spines to grow in clusters in the mouse motor cortex. These clusters are very similar to little memory centers that are collections of structural alterations that match the movement being learnt. What also came across as interesting is the fact that the clusters formed together and strengthened together. Also, it was found that they stayed longer together after the training ended, the mice still remembered the tasks months after.

As a whole, these two studies provided important information about motor learning and structural changes that are happening in our brain. Roth and Ding demonstrated motor learning on a circuit and microscopic level, showing how various brain regions cooperate and switch roles while we learn more. In contrast, Fu et al. revealed how this coordination results in physical change, such as formation of clusters of dendritic spines. Both studies gave us the same takeaway: as we learn new movements we are remodeling our brain.

Finally, it is essential to know that when you move, you do not just learn with your muscles, you do it with your brain too. Every action you take, whether it is dancing in your room or relearning how to walk after an injury, has the power to change the structure of your brain. Therefore, the next time you try to master new skills do not be afraid to fail the first couple of times. Know that your brain is developing, adjusting, and most importantly, that it is learning.

References

Roth, R. H., & Ding, J. B. (2024). Cortico-basal ganglia plasticity in motor learning. Neuron, 112(8), 2486–2496. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuron.2024.06.014

Fu, M., Yu, X., Lu, J., & Zuo, Y. (2012). Repetitive motor learning induces coordinated formation of clustered dendritic spines in vivo. Nature, 483(7387), 92–95. https://doi.org/10.1038/nature10844