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Abstract:
Memory skills strongly differ across the general population; however,
little is known about the brain characteristics supporting superior
memory performance. Here we assess functional brain network organization
of 23 of the world's most successful memory athletes and matched
controls with fMRI during both task-free resting state baseline and
active memory encoding. We demonstrate that, in a group of naive
controls, functional connectivity changes induced by 6 weeks of mnemonic
training were correlated with the network organization that
distinguishes athletes from controls. During rest, this effect was
mainly driven by connections between rather than within the visual,
medial temporal lobe and default mode networks, whereas during task it
was driven by connectivity within these networks. Similarity with memory
athlete connectivity patterns predicted memory improvements up to 4
months after training. In conclusion, mnemonic training drives
distributed rather than regional changes, reorganizing the brain's
functional network organization to enable superior memory performance.
