Precision functional mapping of individual long-term learning brain

Acquiring a complex cognitive skill reflects the human brain's remarkable capacity for long‑term plasticity, yet a fine‑grained, temporally dense map of the neural dynamics that unfold from novice to expert remains largely uncharted, limited by sparse sampling and group‑averaged designs. Leveraging longitudinal precision functional imaging, we tracked behavioral and whole‑brain functional dynamics in three individuals over a nine‑month period of real‑world abacus‑based mental calculation learning. This Precision Abacus‑based Representation Learning (PEARL) dataset comprises approximately 4,000 minutes of multimodal MRI data per participant, acquired across more than fifty scanning visits. We delineate a behavioral trajectory marked by initial practice gains, a transient cost of strategy switching, and eventual rapid, stable skill consolidation. Concomitant neuroimaging revealed continuous, individualized reorganization of functional brainwave networks, with each brain progressively diverging from its baseline before converging toward an expert‑like state. This study provides the first integrated, precision map of large‑scale brain plasticity during extended ecological skill learning. As an open‑access resource, the PEARL dataset offers an unprecedented opportunity to uncover the dynamic principles of learning‑induced plasticity, enabling the neuroscience community to explore and model the precise interplay between brain reorganization and behavioral mastery.