Activation of the arousal response can impair performance on a simple motor task

The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of arousal in men and women on the moment-to-moment performance of a simple motor task. We examined the control of a precision task in the presence and absence of imposed stressors. Twenty-nine subjects (14 men, 15 women; 18–44 yr) were randomly assigned to either a control group or one of two stressor groups, Mental Math or Electric Shock. Subjects presented with Math and Shock stressors, which lasted 10 min, experienced significant increases in cognitive and physiological arousal compared with baseline and control subjects. Heart rate, systolic blood pressure, and electrodermal activity were elevated 5–80% with presentation of the stressors, whereas diastolic blood pressure and salivary cortisol were unchanged. The greater levels of cognitive and physiological arousal were associated with reductions in steadiness of a pinch grip for the Shock subjects (∼130% reduction from baseline) but not for the subjects in the Math group, who experienced heightened arousal but no change in steadiness (10% reduction from baseline). Although women exhibited more of a reduction in steadiness than men, the effect was largely unrelated to the magnitude of the change in arousal.

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Activation of the arousal response and impairment of performance increase with anxiety and stressor intensity

Journal of Applied Physiology ◽

10.1152/jappl.2001.91.5.2093 ◽

2001 ◽

Vol 91 (5) ◽

pp. 2093-2101 ◽

Cited By ~ 55

Author(s):

J. Timothy Noteboom ◽

Kerry R. Barnholt ◽

Roger M. Enoka

Keyword(s):

Blood Pressure ◽

Trait Anxiety ◽

Electrodermal Activity ◽

Physiological Arousal ◽

Control Group ◽

Anxiety Group ◽

Electric Shocks ◽

Group 5 ◽

Arousal Response ◽

And Control

The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of trait anxiety and stressor intensity on arousal and motor performance during a pinch task. We examined the steadiness of a precision task in the presence and absence of an imposed stressor on subjects with moderate and low trait anxiety. Subjects with the 26 highest and 14 lowest anxiety scores were assigned to one of three groups: a control group (5 women, 5 men), a moderate-anxiety group (8 women, 8 men), or a low-anxiety group (7 women, 7 men). Subjects in the anxiety groups received electric shocks and experienced significant increases in cognitive and physiological arousal compared with baseline and control subjects, especially subjects in the moderate-anxiety group. Heart rate, systolic blood pressure, and electrodermal activity were elevated during the stressor, whereas diastolic blood pressure was unchanged. Cognitive and physiological arousal tended to increase with stressor intensity and was accompanied by changes in steadiness. Although steadiness was markedly reduced with the highest intensity of shock, the average electromyogram activity was unaffected by the stressor. These findings indicate that the increase in arousal and the impairment of steadiness increased with trait anxiety and with the intensity of the noxious stimulus.

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Effects of olanzapine on cerebellar functional connectivity in schizophrenia measured by fMRI during a simple motor task

Psychological Medicine ◽

10.1017/s0033291701004330 ◽

2001 ◽

Vol 31 (6) ◽

pp. 1065-1078 ◽

Cited By ~ 86

Author(s):

K. E. STEPHAN ◽

V. A. MAGNOTTA ◽

T. WHITE ◽

S. ARNDT ◽

M. FLAUM ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Prefrontal Cortex ◽

Functional Connectivity ◽

Motor Task ◽

Drug Effects ◽

Brain Regions ◽

Control Group ◽

Repetition Effects ◽

Functional Interactions ◽

Simple Motor ◽

Simple Motor Task

Background. According to current theories, schizophrenia results from altered connectivity in brain circuits for fundamental cognitive operations. Consequently, the poorly understood mechanisms of neuroleptic treatment may be explainable by altered functional interactions within such networks. The ‘cognitive dysmetria’ model hypothesizes that one key structure in these circuits is the cerebellum. To investigate the effects of olanzapine on cerebellar functional connectivity (CFC), a seed-voxel correlation analysis (SVCA) was used in a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study of a simple finger-tapping task.Methods. fMRI scans were obtained from six schizophrenic patients under both drug-free and olanzapine-treated conditions and from a matched control group of six healthy subjects at corresponding time points. SVCAs were performed for anatomically and functionally standardized seed voxels in the anterior cerebellum. SVCA results were then processed by three different randomization analyses.Results. The analyses revealed that olanzapine caused widespread changes of CFC, including prominent changes in prefrontal cortex and mediodorsal thalamus. Significant changes in motor structures were found after subtractions within both groups and may thus indicate repetition effects rather than drug effects. Olanzapine ‘normalized’ the patients' CFC patterns for the right, but not for the left cerebellum.Conclusion. Even for a simple motor task, olanzapine affects functional interactions between the cerebellum and many non-motor brain regions, including elements of the ‘cognitive dysmetria’ circuit. Altogether, our findings suggest that olanzapine has a stronger differential effect on neural activity in prefrontal cortex and thalamus than in motor structures.

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Prolonged Practice of a Simple Motor Task by Preferred and Nonpreferred Hands

Perceptual and Motor Skills ◽

10.2466/pms.1976.43.2.447 ◽

1976 ◽

Vol 43 (2) ◽

pp. 447-450 ◽

Cited By ~ 59

Author(s):

Michael Peters

Keyword(s):

Task Analysis ◽

Motor Task ◽

Finger Tapping ◽

Simple Motor ◽

Nonpreferred Hand ◽

Simple Motor Task ◽

The Difference

After prolonged practice (1300 10-sec trials) the tapping speed of the nonpreferred hand reached that of the preferred hand on a simple finger-tapping task. Analysis of the intertap intervals showed the variability of the duration of intertap intervals was smaller for the preferred than for the nonpreferred hand; the difference was not affected by the prolonged practice for N = 1.

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Intervention Models in Functional Connectivity Identification Applied to fMRI

International Journal of Biomedical Imaging ◽

10.1155/ijbi/2006/27483 ◽

2006 ◽

Vol 2006 ◽

pp. 1-7 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

João Ricardo Sato ◽

Daniel Yasumasa Takahashi ◽

Ellison Fernando Cardoso ◽

Maria da Graça Morais Martin ◽

Edson Amaro Júnior ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Structural Equation ◽

Motor Task ◽

Equation Modeling ◽

Association Measure ◽

Intervention Models ◽

Simple Motor ◽

Simple Motor Task ◽

Stationarity Conditions ◽

Neuroimaging Techniques ◽

Illustrative Application

Recent advances in neuroimaging techniques have provided precise spatial localization of brain activation applied in several neuroscience subareas. The development of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), based on the BOLD signal, is one of the most popular techniques related to the detection of neuronal activation. However, understanding the interactions between several neuronal modules is also an important task, providing a better comprehension about brain dynamics. Nevertheless, most connectivity studies in fMRI are based on a simple correlation analysis, which is only an association measure and does not provide the direction of information flow between brain areas. Other proposed methods like structural equation modeling (SEM) seem to be attractive alternatives. However, this approach assumes prior information about the causality direction and stationarity conditions, which may not be satisfied in fMRI experiments. Generally, the fMRI experiments are related to an activation task; hence, the stimulus conditions should also be included in the model. In this paper, we suggest an intervention analysis, which includes stimulus condition, allowing a nonstationary modeling. Furthermore, an illustrative application to real fMRI dataset from a simple motor task is presented.

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Stereotype Threat Effect on a Simple Motor Task: An Investigation of the Visuo-Spatial Working Memory

Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport ◽

10.1080/02701367.2020.1826391 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 1-6

Author(s):

Raphael Laurin ◽

Maxinse Renard-Moulard ◽

Carole Cometti

Keyword(s):

Working Memory ◽

Stereotype Threat ◽

Spatial Working Memory ◽

Motor Task ◽

Simple Motor ◽

Threat Effect ◽

Simple Motor Task

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Reversal Phenomenon in a Simple Motor Task: Evidence for an Indirect Model

Conference Proceedings. 2nd International IEEE EMBS Conference on Neural Engineering, 2005. ◽

10.1109/cne.2005.1419560 ◽

2005 ◽

Author(s):

N. Leibowitz ◽

A. Karniel

Keyword(s):

Motor Task ◽

Simple Motor ◽

Reversal Phenomenon ◽

Simple Motor Task

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Subjective Definitions of Tension

Perceptual and Motor Skills ◽

10.2466/pms.1976.43.2.636 ◽

1976 ◽

Vol 43 (2) ◽

pp. 636-638 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Jeffrey R. Cram ◽

Edwin Lackey

Keyword(s):

Muscle Tension ◽

Motor Task ◽

Proprioceptive Information ◽

Simple Motor ◽

Simple Motor Task ◽

Definition Of

To examine the type of proprioceptive information which subjects include in the definition of tension, 52 subjects were asked to indicate the location of where they felt tension while engaging in a simple motor task. Responses indicated that tendon stretch, muscle tension, and other cues are utilized in the subject's definition of tension.

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