**2. The Cognitive-Kinesthetic Drawing Training**

The Cognitive-Kinesthetic Drawing Training is a noninvasive approach to blindness rehabilitation that the author has developed based on a novel conceptual paradigm [3–6]. It utilizes a special protocol of *memory-guided drawing*. My previous studies show that this training affects a widely distributed brain network, including both lower-level regions, such as the primary visual cortex (even in the blind), and higher level regions as the hippocampus or a swath of temporal cortex regions [6]. It also enhances top-down connectivity from the hippocampus and other memory-related regions such as the perirhinal cortex [25–26] to early visual areas.

The results from my previous study [6] also revealed the remarkable learning dynamics of functional reorganization in the hippocampal complex and the temporal-lobe object processing hierarchy over a two-month-long consolidation period. In particular, the hippocampal pattern of profound *learning-based transformations* was strongly reflected in the primary visual cortex (V1), with the memory retrieval function showing massive growth as a result of the Cognitive-Kinesthetic memory training and consolidation, while the initially strong hippocampal response during tactile exploration and encoding became almost nonexistent. Furthermore, the inferior temporal cortex manifested a striking *alternating patch structure* [6] (**Figure 1**, bottom panel) reminiscent of the face and object patches reported along the temporal lobe [27]. However, in my study, the differentiation was a function of the *temporal evolution of learning* changes, that is, it was reflecting the effect of training *over time (*instead being a function of face/object category). This cascade of alternating discrete regions also underwent a radical *sequence of transformations* as a

well outside the accepted critical period for brain plasticity, has not been previously studied. The author was able to address this question for the first time by driving neuroplasticity through a unique training on the complex motor task of blind memory-guided drawing, in a congenitally left-handed man who had become totally blind 10 years before. The unprecedented effect on handedness of the rapid Cognitive-Kinesthetic Drawing Training—which the author initially developed for blindness rehabilitation [2–7], implies a powerful potential of this training for further rehabilitation domains, such as the rehabilitation of stroke or

Left-handers are often excluded from neuroscience study cohorts in order to focus on a more uniform population. However, left-handed individuals represent a substantial portion of the human population, and therefore, it is important to account for this aspect of neural coding in order to better understand brain functioning [8]. Most studies have found that, in both right- and left-handers, movements of the preferred hand activate mainly the contralateral hemisphere [9–18], whereas movements of the non-preferred hand tend to result in a more balanced pattern of activation in the two hemispheres, indicating greater involvement of ipsilateral cortex [1, 12]. For example, it has been found that right-handers had greater activation in the left premotor area for either hand [13], indicating a general dominance of the left hemisphere in motor function, whereas left-handers showed a symmetrical of activation in the premotor cortex contralateral to the moving hand (either left or right). A parallel pattern of such a contralaterality for either hand in the right-handed, but not in the left-handed, was found in another brain region—the sensorimotor cortex [19]. It should be noted, however, that there are still many discrepancies in the literature, which are often attributed to differ-

Does forceful switching from left-to-right handedness in adulthood change the patterns of cortication activation in left-handers or not? How much of the observed inter-hemispheric patterns are entirely genetically predetermined or can be affected by experience, such as training? There are only a few studies addressing these questions, with divergent results (e.g., [1,

The Cognitive-Kinesthetic Drawing Training is a noninvasive approach to blindness rehabilitation that the author has developed based on a novel conceptual paradigm [3–6]. It utilizes a special protocol of *memory-guided drawing*. My previous studies show that this training affects a widely distributed brain network, including both lower-level regions, such as the primary visual cortex (even in the blind), and higher level regions as the hippocampus or a swath of temporal cortex regions [6]. It also enhances top-down connectivity from the hippocampus and other memory-related regions such as the perirhinal cortex [25–26] to early visual areas. The results from my previous study [6] also revealed the remarkable learning dynamics of functional reorganization in the hippocampal complex and the temporal-lobe object processing hierarchy over a two-month-long consolidation period. In particular, the hippocampal pattern

ences in experimental design, including the type of motor task.

**2. The Cognitive-Kinesthetic Drawing Training**

trauma affecting hand control.

68 Neuroplasticity - Insights of Neural Reorganization

16, 20–24]).

**Figure 1.** Learning evolution along IT driven by the Cognitive-Kinesthetic memory-drawing training. **Upper panel:** Left: Experimental design, including 3 fMRI assessments: i) a pre-training (*pre/blue*), ii) an immediate after training (*post1/green*), and iii) two months after consolidation period with no training (*post2/red*) assessments. Right: Example of the dramatic reorganization of BOLD responses in an IT region for the *tactile encoding*, and the *tactile memory retrieval tasks* from Day1 (pre-training), to day 7 (immediately post-training) to day 67 (2 months after training). **Bottom panel:** Alternating-patch structure of dissociated, largely non-overlapping encoding and retrieval regions after consolidation (day 67; after training). Left: Memory-encoding task. Yellow—areas still active after consolidation; black—areas not activated anymore. Right: Memory-retrieval task: Purple—areas that become active; blue—suppressed areas; black areas not involved anymore (after Likova [6]).

function of the *stage of learning*, toward a *complete functional specialization* in terms of either *encoding* or *retrieval* after consolidation. Several distinct patterns of this learning evolution *within* each of the patches (see, e.g., in **Figure 1**, top panel) implied a complex reorganization of the object processing sub-networks throughout both the *training* and the following *consolidation* period.
