8. Pre-stimulus interhemispheric coupling of brain rhythms predicts cognitive-motor performance in healthy humans

Brief bouts of sublethal ischemia have been shown to protect exposed tissue (ischemic conditioning) and tissues at remote sites (remote ischemic conditioning) against subsequent ischemic challenges. Given that the mechanisms of this protective phenomenon are multifactorial and epigenetic, we postulated that remote limb ischemic conditioning (RLIC) might enhance mechanisms responsible for neural plasticity, and thereby facilitate learning. Specifically, we hypothesized that conditioning of the nervous system with RLIC, achieved through brief repetitive limb ischemia prior to training, would facilitate the neurophysiological processes of learning, thus making training more effective and more long-lasting. Eighteen healthy adults participated in this study; nine were randomly allocated to RLIC and nine to sham conditioning. All subjects underwent seven consecutive weekday sessions and 2-wk and 4-wk follow-up sessions. We found that RLIC resulted in significantly greater motor learning and longer retention of motor performance gains in healthy adults. Changes in motor performance do not appear to be due to a generalized increase in muscle activation or muscle strength and were not associated with changes in serum brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) concentration. Of note, RLIC did not enhance cognitive learning on a hippocampus-dependent task. While future research is needed to establish optimal conditioning and training parameters, this inexpensive, clinically feasible paradigm might ultimately be implemented to enhance motor learning in individuals undergoing neuromuscular rehabilitation for brain injury and other pathological conditions.

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Mobile phone emission modulates event-related desynchronization of alpha rhythms and cognitive–motor performance in healthy humans

Clinical Neurophysiology ◽

10.1016/j.clinph.2011.06.019 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 123 (1) ◽

pp. 121-128 ◽

Cited By ~ 17

Author(s):

Fabrizio Vecchio ◽

Paola Buffo ◽

Silvia Sergio ◽

Daniela Iacoviello ◽

Paolo Maria Rossini ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Mobile Phone ◽

Motor Performance ◽

Event Related Desynchronization ◽

Healthy Humans

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Prestimulus Interhemispheric Coupling of Brain Rhythms Predicts Cognitive–Motor Performance in Healthy Humans

Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience ◽

10.1162/jocn_a_00615 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 26 (9) ◽

pp. 1883-1890 ◽

Cited By ~ 17

Author(s):

Fabrizio Vecchio ◽

Giordano Lacidogna ◽

Francesca Miraglia ◽

Placido Bramanti ◽

Florinda Ferreri ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Motor Performance ◽

Distributed Networks ◽

Functional Coupling ◽

Cortical Circuits ◽

Fixation Stimulus ◽

Visuomotor Task ◽

Healthy Humans ◽

Interhemispheric Connectivity ◽

Sensorimotor Information ◽

The Brain

Physiological and neuroimaging studies suggest that human actions are characterized by time-varying engagement of functional distributed networks within the brain. In this study, we investigated whether specific prestimulus interhemispheric connectivity, as a measure of synchronized network between the two hemispheres, could lead to a better performance (as revealed by RT) in a simple visuomotor task. Eighteen healthy adults underwent EEG recording during a visual go/no-go task. In the go/no-go task, a central fixation stimulus was followed by a green (50% of probability) or red visual stimulus. Participants had to press the mouse button after the green stimuli (go trials). Interhemispheric coupling was evaluated by the spectral coherence among all the electrodes covering one hemisphere and matched with those on the other. The frequency bands of interest were delta (2–4 Hz), theta (4–8 Hz), alpha 1 (8–10.5 Hz), alpha 2 (10.5–13 Hz), beta 1 (13–20 Hz), beta 2 (20–30 Hz), and gamma (30–40 Hz). The task-related results showed that interhemispheric connectivity decreased in delta and increased in alpha band. Furthermore, we observed positive delta and negative alpha correlations with the RT; namely, the faster the RT, the lower delta and the higher alpha connection between the two hemispheres. These results suggested that the best performance is anticipated by the better functional coupling of cortical circuits involved during the processing of the sensorimotor information, occurring between the two hemispheres pending cognitive go/no-go task.

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The effect of knowledge of the desired outcome on dental motor performance

Journal of Dental Education ◽

10.1002/j.0022-0337.1988.52.4.tb02191.x ◽

1988 ◽

Vol 52 (4) ◽

pp. 198-201 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

PH Feil ◽

T Reed

Keyword(s):

Motor Performance

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Cognitive Load Affects Speech Motor Performance Differently in Older and Younger Adults

Journal of Speech Language and Hearing Research ◽

10.1044/2018_jslhr-s-17-0222 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 62 (5) ◽

pp. 1258-1277 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Megan K. MacPherson

Keyword(s):

Older Adults ◽

Cognitive Load ◽

Motor Performance ◽

Age Groups ◽

Incongruent Condition ◽

Sentence Production ◽

Movement Duration ◽

Production Task ◽

Younger Adults ◽

Speech Motor

PurposeThe aim of this study was to determine the impact of cognitive load imposed by a speech production task on the speech motor performance of healthy older and younger adults. Response inhibition, selective attention, and working memory were the primary cognitive processes of interest.MethodTwelve healthy older and 12 healthy younger adults produced multiple repetitions of 4 sentences containing an embedded Stroop task in 2 cognitive load conditions: congruent and incongruent. The incongruent condition, which required participants to suppress orthographic information to say the font colors in which color words were written, represented an increase in cognitive load relative to the congruent condition in which word text and font color matched. Kinematic measures of articulatory coordination variability and movement duration as well as a behavioral measure of sentence production accuracy were compared between groups and conditions and across 3 sentence segments (pre-, during-, and post-Stroop).ResultsIncreased cognitive load in the incongruent condition was associated with increased articulatory coordination variability and movement duration, compared to the congruent Stroop condition, for both age groups. Overall, the effect of increased cognitive load was greater for older adults than younger adults and was greatest in the portion of the sentence in which cognitive load was manipulated (during-Stroop), followed by the pre-Stroop segment. Sentence production accuracy was reduced for older adults in the incongruent condition.ConclusionsIncreased cognitive load involving response inhibition, selective attention, and working memory processes within a speech production task disrupted both the stability and timing with which speech was produced by both age groups. Older adults' speech motor performance may have been more affected due to age-related changes in cognitive and motoric functions that result in altered motor cognition.

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