Training-Associated Superior Visuomotor Integration Performance in Elite Badminton Players after Adjusting for Cardiovascular Fitness

Badminton is recognized as the fastest racket sport in the world based on the speed of the birdie which can travel up to 426 km per hour. On the badminton court, players are not only required to track the moving badminton birdie (visual tracking and information integration) but also must anticipate the exact timing to hit it back (temporal estimation). However, the association of training experience related to visuomotor integration or temporal prediction ability remains unclear. In this study, we tested this hypothesis by examining the association between training experience and visuomotor performances after adjusting for age, education, and cardiovascular fitness levels. Twenty-eight professional badminton players were asked to perform a compensatory tracking task and a time/movement estimation task for measuring visuomotor integration and temporal prediction, respectively. Correlation analysis revealed a strong association between training experience and performance on visuomotor integration, indicating badminton training may be promoted to develop visuomotor integration ability. Furthermore, the regression model suggests training experience explains 32% of visuomotor integration performances. These behavioral findings suggest badminton training may facilitate the perceptual–cognitive performance related to visuomotor integration. Our findings highlight the potential training in visuomotor integration may apply to eye–hand coordination performance in badminton sport.

Stereopsis in Sports: Visual Skills and Visuomotor Integration Models in Professional and Non-Professional Athletes

Visual skills in sport are considered relevant variables of athletic performance. However, data on the specific contribution of stereopsis—as the ability to perceive depth—in sport performance are still scarce and scattered in the literature. The aim of this review is therefore to take stock of the effects of stereopsis on the athletic performance, also looking at the training tools to improve visual abilities and potential differences in the visuomotor integration processes of professional and non-professional athletes. Dynamic stereopsis is mainly involved in catching or interceptive actions of ball sports, whereas strategic sports use different visual skills (peripheral and spatial vision) due to the sport-specific requirements. As expected, professional athletes show better visual skills as compared to non-professionals. However, both non-professional and professional athletes should train their visual skills by using sensory stations and light boards systems. Non-professional athletes use the visual inputs as the main method for programming motor gestures. In contrast, professional athletes integrate visual information with sport expertise, thus, they encode the match (or the athletic performance) through a more complex visuomotor integration system. Although studies on visual skills and stereopsis in sports still appear to be in their early stages, they show a large potential for both scientific knowledge and technical development.

Functional Connectivity at Rest between the Human Medial Posterior Parietal Cortex and the Primary Motor Cortex Detected by Paired-Pulse Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation

The medial posterior parietal cortex (PPC) is involved in the complex processes of visuomotor integration. Its connections to the dorsal premotor cortex, which in turn is connected to the primary motor cortex (M1), complete the fronto-parietal network that supports important cognitive functions in the planning and execution of goal-oriented movements. In this study, we wanted to investigate the time-course of the functional connectivity at rest between the medial PPC and the M1 using dual-site transcranial magnetic stimulation in healthy humans. We stimulated the left M1 using a suprathreshold test stimulus to elicit motor-evoked potentials in the hand, and a subthreshold conditioning stimulus was applied over the left medial PPC at different inter-stimulus intervals (ISIs). The conditioning stimulus affected the M1 excitability depending on the ISI, with inhibition at longer ISIs (12 and 15 ms). We suggest that these modulations may reflect the activation of different parieto-frontal pathways, with long latency inhibitions likely recruiting polisynaptic pathways, presumably through anterolateral PPC.

Motor and visuomotor function in 10-year-old children with congenital heart disease: association with behaviour

Background: Children with CHD are at increased risk for neurodevelopmental impairments. There is little information on long-term motor function and its association with behaviour. Aims: To assess motor function and behaviour in a cohort of 10-year-old children with CHD after cardiopulmonary bypass surgery. Methods: Motor performance and movement quality were examined in 129 children with CHD using the Zurich Neuromotor Assessment providing four timed and one qualitative component, and a total timed motor score was created based on the four timed components. The Beery Test of Visual–Motor Integration and the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire were administered. Results: All Zurich Neuromotor Assessment motor tasks were below normative values (all p ≤ 0.001), and the prevalence of poor motor performance (≤10th percentile) ranged from 22.2% to 61.3% in the different components. Visuomotor integration and motor coordination were poorer compared to norms (all p ≤ 0.001). 14% of all analysed children had motor therapy at the age of 10 years. Children with a total motor score ≤10th percentile showed more internalising (p = 0.002) and externalising (p = 0.028) behavioural problems. Conclusions: School-aged children with CHD show impairments in a variety of motor domains which are related to behavioural problems. Our findings emphasise that motor problems can persist into school-age and require detailed assessment and support.

Which Comes First in Sports Vision Training: The Software or the Hardware Update? Utility of Electrophysiological Measures in Monitoring Specialized Visual Training in Youth Athletes

In the present study we combined popular methods of sports vision training (SVT) with traditional oculomotor protocols of Optometric Vision Therapy (OVT) and electrophysiological indexes of EEG and VEP activity to monitor training progress and changes in performance of youth ice hockey players without the history of concussion. We hypothesized that administration of OVT protocols before SVT training may result in larger performance improvements compared to the reverse order due to the initial strengthening of visual hardware capable of handling greater demands during training of visuomotor integration and information processing skills (visual software). In a cross-over design 53 youth ice hockey players (ages 13–18) were randomly assigned to one of the two training groups. Group one (hardware-software group) completed 5 weeks of oculomotor training first followed by 5 weeks of software training. For group 2 (software-hardware) the order of procedures were reversed. After 10 weeks of training both groups significantly improved their performance on all but one measure of the Nike/Senaptec Sensory station measures. Additionally, the software-hardware training order resulted in significantly lower frontal theta-to-gamma amplitude ratios on the Nike/Senaptec test of Near-Far Quickness as well as in faster P100 latencies. Both training orders also resulted in significant decreases in post-treatment P100 amplitude to transient VEP stimuli as well as decreased theta-gamma ratios for perception span, Go/No-Go and Hand Reaction time. The observed changes in the electrophysiological indexes in the present study are thought to reflect greater efficiency in visual information processing and cognitive resource allocation following 10 weeks of visual training. There is also some evidence of the greater effectiveness of the software-hardware training order possibly due to the improved preparedness of the oculomotor system in the youth athletes for administration of targeted protocols of the Optometric Vision Therapy.

Immersive virtual reality interferes with default head–trunk coordination strategies in young children

The acquisition of postural control is an elaborate process, which relies on the balanced integration of multisensory inputs. Current models suggest that young children rely on an ‘en-block’ control of their upper body before sequentially acquiring a segmental control around the age of 7, and that they resort to the former strategy under challenging conditions. While recent works suggest that a virtual sensory environment alters visuomotor integration in healthy adults, little is known about the effects on younger individuals. Here we show that this default coordination pattern is disrupted by an immersive virtual reality framework where a steering role is assigned to the trunk, which causes 6- to 8-year-olds to employ an ill-adapted segmental strategy. These results provide an alternate trajectory of motor development and emphasize the immaturity of postural control at these ages.

Concurrent Multimodal Data Acquisition During Brain Scanning is within Reach

BackgroundPrevious brain-scanning research exploring the neural mechanisms underpinning visuomotor planning and control has mostly been done without simultaneous motion-tracking and eye-tracking. Employing concurrent methodologies would enhance understanding of the brain mechanisms underlying visuomotor integration of cognitive, visual, ocular, and motor aspects of reaching and grasping behaviours. Therefore, this work presents the methods and validation for a high-speed, multimodal and synchronized system to holistically examine neural processes that are involved in visually-guided movement.MethodsThe multimodal methods included high speed 3D motion tracking (Qualisys), 2D eye-tracking (SR Research), and magnetoencephalography (MEG; Elekta) that were synchronized to millisecond precision. Previous MRIs were taken to provide improved spatial localization. The methods section describes the system layout and acquisition parameters to achieve multimodal synchronization. Pilot results presented here are preliminary data from a larger study including 29 participants. Using a pincer grip, five people (3 male, 2 female, ages 30-32) reached for and grasped a translucent dowel 50 times, after it was pseudorandomly illuminated. The object illumination was the Go cue. Seven discrete time points (events) throughout the task were chosen for investigation of simultaneous brain, hand and eye activity associated with specific visual (Go cue), oculomotor (1st saccade after Go), motor (Reaction Time; RT, Maximum Velocity: MV, Maximum Grip Width; MGW) or cognitive (Ready, End) mechanisms. Time-frequency analyses were performed on the MEG data sourced from the left precentral gyrus to explore task-related changes time-locked to these chosen events.Pilot resultsBasic kinematic parameters including RT, MV, MGW, Movement Time, and Total Time were similar to previous, seminal research by Castiello, Paulignan and Jeannerod, (1991), using a similar task. Although no gaze instructions were given, eye-tracking results indicated volunteers mostly gazed at or near the target object when Ready (72%), and then hardly looked away throughout the rest of the task at the important events sampled here (92% - 98%). At the End event, when lifting the dowel, on average, participants gazed at or near the target object 100% of the time. Although saccades > 100 ms after Go, but prior to RT were made on average in about one fourth (M = 13, SD = 6) of trials, a mixed model (REML) indicated their latency in timing after the Go was significantly (F = 13.376, p = .001) associated with RT scores on those trials (AIC = 724, Rm2 = 0.407, Rc2= 0.420). Neural activity relative to baseline in the beta band was desynchronized for the visually guided reach periods, beginning prior to Go, and remaining sustained until beyond End, after the grasp and lift were executed.ConclusionThis study presents the layout, acquisition parameters and validation for a multimodal, synchronized system designed to record data from the hand, eye and brain simultaneously, with millisecond precision during an ecologically-valid prehension task with physical, 3D objects. The pilot results align with previous research made with single or bimodal data recordings. This multimodal method enables full-brain modelling that can holistically map the precise location and timing of neural activity involved in the visual, oculomotor, motor and cognitive aspects of reach-to-grasp planning and control.