Fig. 2
Results of functional and structural features related to expertise of dental training. (A) The results of seed-based connectivity (SBC) analyses with the bilateral sensorimotor network (SMN) and the anterior insula (AIns) as the seed. Increased resting-state functional connectivity (rsFC) is identified between bilateral SMN and the right middle frontal gyrus in the Dental group, compared to the Non-Dental group. In contrast, increased rsFC is identified between bilateral SMN and the left posterior insula (PIns) in the Non-Dental group, compared to the Dental group. Additionally, increased rsFC is identified between right AIns and the left superior frontal gyrus in the Non-Dental group, compared to the Dental group. (B) The results of voxel-based morphometry (VBM). Increased gray matter volume is identified at the left primary motor cortex in the Non-Dental group, compared to the Dental group. (C) The association between rsFC and manual dexterity. Positive correlation is identified between the score of Purdue Pegboard Test-Tool Assembly (PPT-A) and the rsFC between the left SMN and the right supramarginal gyrus in the Dental group. All the clusters are thresholded by peak intensity puncorrected<0.001 and cluster size pFWE−corrected<0.05