scholarly journals Enhanced Manual and Oral Motor Reaction Time in Young Adult Female Fragile X Premutation Carriers

2011 ◽  
Vol 17 (4) ◽  
pp. 746-750 ◽  
Author(s):  
Naomi J. Goodrich-Hunsaker ◽  
Ling M. Wong ◽  
Yingratana McLennan ◽  
Flora Tassone ◽  
Danielle Harvey ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Reaction Time ◽  
Visual Information ◽  
Motor Response ◽  
Fragile X ◽  
Reaction Times ◽  
Mrna Levels ◽  
Motor Reaction ◽  
Cgg Repeat ◽  
Oral Motor ◽  
Fragile X Premutation

AbstractA previous study reported preliminary results of enhanced processing of simple visual information in the form of faster reaction times, in female fragile X premutation carriers (fXPCs). In this study, we assessed manual and oral motor reaction times in 30 female fXPCs and 20 neurotypical (NT) controls. Participants completed two versions of the reaction time task; one version required a manual motor response and the other version required an oral motor response. Results revealed that the female fXPCs displayed faster reaction times for both manual and oral motor responses relative to NT controls. Molecular measures including CGG repeat length, FMR1 mRNA levels, and age were not associated with performance in either group. Given previously reported age and CGG repeat modulated performance on a magnitude comparison task in this same group of premutation carriers, results from the current study seem to suggest that female fXPCs may have spared basic psychomotor functionality. (JINS, 2011, 17, 746–750)

scholarly journals Is there a CGG repeat threshold to predict the risk of occult premature ovarian failure in fragile X premutation carriers?

2019 ◽  
Vol 111 (4) ◽  
pp. e22-e23
Author(s):  
S. Chang ◽  
L. Sekhon ◽  
D. Gounko ◽  
J.A. Lee ◽  
T. Mukherjee ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Premature Ovarian Failure ◽  
Fragile X ◽  
Ovarian Failure ◽  
Cgg Repeat ◽  
Fragile X Premutation

Gamma oscillations are involved in the sensorimotor transformation of pain

2012 ◽  
Vol 108 (4) ◽  
pp. 1025-1031 ◽  
Author(s):  
Enrico Schulz ◽  
Laura Tiemann ◽  
Viktor Witkovsky ◽  
Paul Schmidt ◽  
Markus Ploner
Keyword(s):  
Reaction Time ◽  
Simple Reaction Time ◽  
Motor Response ◽  
Reaction Times ◽  
Gamma Oscillations ◽  
Simple Reaction Time Task ◽  
Sensorimotor Transformation ◽  
Healthy Human ◽  
Simple Reaction ◽  
The Relationship

Pain signals threat and initiates motor responses to avoid harm. The transformation of pain into a motor response is thus an essential part of pain. Here, we investigated the neural mechanisms subserving the sensorimotor transformation of pain at the cortical level by using electroencephalography. In a simple reaction time experiment, brief painful stimuli were delivered to the left hand of healthy human subjects who responded with button presses of the right hand. The results show that the simple reaction time task was associated with neuronal responses at delta/theta, alpha/beta, and gamma frequencies. The analysis of the relationship between neuronal activity and response speed revealed that gamma oscillations, which were temporally coupled to the painful stimuli, but not temporally coupled to the motor response, predicted reaction times. Lateralization of gamma oscillations indicates that they originate from motor areas rather than from sensory areas. We conclude that gamma oscillations are involved in the sensorimotor transformation of pain whose efficiency they reflect. We hypothesize that the relationship between stimulus-locked gamma oscillations and reaction times reflects a direct thalamo-motor route of nociceptive information that is central to the biological function of pain.

scholarly journals Neural encoding of reliability and validity of directional information during the preparation of targeted movements

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charidimos Tzagarakis ◽  
Sarah West ◽  
Giuseppe Pellizzer
Keyword(s):  
Reaction Time ◽  
Visual Information ◽  
Motor Response ◽  
Reliability And Validity ◽  
Motor Preparation ◽  
Theta Band ◽  
Beta Band ◽  
Motor Processes ◽  
Band Power ◽  
The Brain

AbstractVisual information about an upcoming target can be used to prepare an appropriate motor response and reduce its reaction time. However, when the anticipation is incorrect and the planned response must be changed, the reaction time is lengthened. Here, we investigated the brain mechanisms associated with the reliability and validity of visual information used for motor preparation. We recorded brain activity using magnetoencephalography (MEG) during a delayed reaching task in which a visual cue provided valid information about the location of the upcoming target with 50, 75 or 100% reliability. We found that reaction time increased as cue reliability decreased and that trials with invalid cues had longer reaction times than trials with valid cues. MEG channel analysis showed that beta-band power from left mid-anterior channels correlated with the reliability of the cue after cue onset but before target onset. This effect was source localized over a large motor-related cortical and subcortical network. In addition, during invalid-cue trials there was a phasic increase of theta-band power following target onset from left posterior channels, localized to the left occipito-parietal cortex. Furthermore, the theta-beta cross-frequency coupling between left mid-occipital and motor cortex also transiently increased before responses to invalid-cue trials. In conclusion, beta-band power in motor-related areas reflected the reliability of visual information used during motor preparation, whereas phasic theta-band activity signaled whether the target was at the expected location or not. These results elucidate mechanisms of interaction between attentional and motor processes.Significance StatementWe used magnetoencephalography to investigate how the brain mechanisms preparing a motor response take into account the reliability of information about the upcoming location of a target to reach, and how these mechanisms adjust when that information turns out to be incorrect. We found that during the response preparation, the power of motor-related beta-band oscillations changed with the reliability of the visual information. In addition, we found that after the onset of the target the power of the left occipito-parietal theta-band signaled whether the prior information was correct or not. The pattern of activity of the beta-band and theta-band explain the pattern of latency of responses in the task, and demonstrate how attentional and motor processes interact.

On the Measurement of Simple Reaction Time for Sight, Hearing, and Touch

1895 ◽  
Vol 20 ◽  
pp. 328-329
Author(s):  
Rutherford
Keyword(s):  
Reaction Time ◽  
Simple Reaction Time ◽  
Motor Response ◽  
Motor Nerve ◽  
Sensory Nerve ◽  
Sense Organ ◽  
Motor Reaction ◽  
Nerve Fibres ◽  
The Brain ◽  
Stimulation Of

Sensori-motor reaction time is the interval that elapses between the stimulation of a sense organ and a motor response. The physiological process involved consists of (a) an afferent factor,—the stimulation of a sensory terminal, and transmission of an impulse along sensory nerve fibres to the brain; (b) a psychical factor, involving an act of sensory perception and the voluntary production of a motor impulse; (c) an efferent factor,—the transmission of an impulse along motor nerve fibres, and consequent contraction of muscle.

The Influence of Different Doses of Caffeine on Visual Task Performance

1999 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 37-48 ◽  
Author(s):  
Judith Ruijter ◽  
Monicque M. Lorist ◽  
Jan Snel
Keyword(s):  
Body Weight ◽  
Information Processing ◽  
Reaction Time ◽  
Dual Task ◽  
Visual Information ◽  
Reaction Times ◽  
False Alarms ◽  
Output Stage ◽  
Improved Performance ◽  
Output Stages

Abstract In this study the influence of caffeine as an energy-increasing substance on visual information processing was examined. Subjects were presented with a dual-task consisting of two choice reaction time tasks. In addition, one of the tasks was presented at two levels of difficulty, influencing the decision-making process. Doses of 1.0, 3.0, and 7.5 mg/kg body weight caffeine and 3.0 mg/kg body weight lactose were administered (within-subjects design). The effect of caffeine was expected to be observable in terms of improved performance on measures like reaction time and type and number of errors, as well as in components of the event-related brain potential (ERP). The highest caffeine dose shortened reaction times on both the primary and the secondary task as compared to placebo. Overall there was a linear decline in reaction times on both tasks with increasing caffeine dose. As measured from ERP results, there was an increasing P3 amplitude as caffeine dose increased, indicating that the quantity of information processed was larger under caffeine. There was, however, no evidence of extra energy in terms of more hits and fewer misses or false alarms. Moreover, subjects reported no doserelated differences in amount of effort needed to perform the dual-task. It is concluded that the effect of caffeine, which is supposed to have its impact on both the input and the output stages of information processing, was evident in the output stage in the form of shortened reaction times. However, no effect of caffeine could be observed at the input stage, probably due to a data limited process.

scholarly journals Adult Female Fragile X Premutation Carriers Exhibit Age- and CGG Repeat Length-Related Impairments on an Attentionally Based Enumeration Task

2011 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
Author(s):  
Naomi J. Goodrich-Hunsaker ◽  
Ling M. Wong ◽  
Yingratana McLennan ◽  
Flora Tassone ◽  
Danielle Harvey ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Adult Female ◽  
Fragile X ◽  
Repeat Length ◽  
Cgg Repeat ◽  
Fragile X Premutation ◽  
Enumeration Task

scholarly journals Small Molecules Targeting H3K9 Methylation Prevent Silencing of Reactivated FMR1 Alleles in Fragile X Syndrome Patient Derived Cells

Genes ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 356 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daman Kumari ◽  
Nicholas Sciascia ◽  
Karen Usdin
Keyword(s):  
Dna Methylation ◽  
Fragile X Syndrome ◽  
Fragile X ◽  
Fmr1 Gene ◽  
Mrna Levels ◽  
H3k9 Methylation ◽  
Methyl Transferase ◽  
Cgg Repeat ◽  
Heterochromatin Formation ◽  
Gene Reactivation

In fragile X syndrome (FXS), expansion of a CGG repeat tract in the 5′-untranslated region of the FMR1 gene to >200 repeats causes transcriptional silencing by inducing heterochromatin formation. Understanding the mechanism of FMR1 silencing is important as gene reactivation is a potential treatment approach for FXS. To date, only the DNA demethylating drug 5-azadeoxycytidine (AZA) has proved effective at gene reactivation; however, this drug is toxic. The repressive H3K9 methylation mark is enriched on the FMR1 gene in FXS patient cells and is thus a potential druggable target. However, its contribution to the silencing process is unclear. Here, we studied the effect of small molecule inhibitors of H3K9 methylation on FMR1 expression in FXS patient cells. Chaetocin showed a small effect on FMR1 gene reactivation and a synergistic effect on FMR1 mRNA levels when used in combination with AZA. Additionally, chaetocin, BIX01294 and 3-Deazaneplanocin A (DZNep) were able to significantly delay the re-silencing of AZA-reactivated FMR1 alleles. These data are consistent with the idea that H3K9 methylation precedes DNA methylation and that removal of DNA methylation is necessary to see the optimal effect of histone methyl-transferase (HMT) inhibitors on FMR1 gene expression. Nonetheless, our data also show that drugs targeting repressive H3K9 methylation marks are able to produce sustained reactivation of the FMR1 gene after a single dose of AZA.

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