ABSTRACT
This chapter provides an overview of the methodologies used to study the neural bases of expertise and briefly present the main pattern of results found in the literature, along with their interpretation, and the associated conceptual issues. It introduces what one needs to know to begin the neural study of expertise. The chapter begins the main neuro-imaging techniques that have been used to study expertise and deals with a presentation of the neural patterns of results often found in studies of expertise. Two types of neural structures can be observed: gray matter of the brain neurons using voxel-based morphometry (VBM), or white matter using diffusion tensor imaging (DTI). The chapter presents the special status of functional reorganization as a combined pattern of activation increases and decreases across brain areas. It shows that no matter the kind of techniques-functional or structural-similar cerebral patterns are found in expertise acquisition.
