Viewing Cute Images Does Not Affect Performance of Computerized Reaction Time Tasks

Humans are emotionally affected by cute or infantile appearances, typical of baby animals and humans, which in turn often leads to careful and cautious behavior. The purpose of this pre-registered study was to examine whether looking at cute images of baby pets improves performance of computerized cognitive-motor tasks. Ninety-eight participants were recruited for this online study and were randomly assigned to two experimental groups. The participants in one group performed two cognitive-motor tasks (Simon task and alternate task-switching task) before and after viewing images of adult pets and the participants in the other group performed the tasks before and after viewing images of baby pets. The participants who viewed images of baby pets rated them as significantly cuter (Cohen’s d = 0.50) and more infantile (Cohen’s d = 1.56) compared with those who viewed images of adult pets. All participants improved their performance from the pre-test to the post-test, but no differences in correct responses and reaction times were seen between the groups. However, pet ownership appeared to serve as a moderating variable with pet owners performing the Simon task faster than non-pet owners. In addition, pet owners reacted faster in the alternate task-switching task after viewing cute and infantile images but not after viewing images of adult pets. This effect was not found among non-pet owners. In conclusion, this study did not find that viewing cute images improves cognitive-motor performance, yet this may be dependent on moderators like pet ownership.

The Influence of Aging on the Functional Connectivity of the Human Basal Ganglia

Although basal ganglia (BG) are involved in the motor disorders of aged people, the effect of aging on the functional interaction of BG is not well-known. This work was aimed at studying the influence of aging on the functional connectivity of the motor circuit of BG (BGmC). Thirty healthy volunteers were studied (young-group 26.4 ± 5.7 years old; aged-group 63.1 ± 5.8 years old) with a procedure planned to prevent the spurious functional connectivity induced by the closed-loop arrangement of the BGmC. BG showed different functional interactions during the inter-task intervals and when subjects did not perform any voluntary task. Aging induced marked changes in the functional connectivity of the BGmC during these inter-task intervals. The finger movements changed the functional connectivity of the BG, these modifications were also different in the aged-group. Taken together, these data show a marked effect of aging on the functional connectivity of the BGmC, and these effects may be at the basis of the motor handicaps of aged people during the execution of motor-tasks and when they are not performing any voluntary motor task.

Evaluation of cerebral hemodynamic status in patients with unilateral symptomatic carotid artery stenosis during motor tasks, through use of transcranial Doppler sonography

ABSTRACT Background: Carotid artery stenosis increases cerebral ischemic event risk through changing different cerebral hemodynamic parameters. Objective: To investigate how cerebral hemodynamics in the M1 segment of middle cerebral artery change in patients with carotid artery stenosis, after motor tasks using transcranial Doppler sonography (TCD). Methods: Thirty-two healthy subjects and 30 patients with unilateral symptomatic carotid artery stenosis were recruited. The patient population was divided into three groups according to the degree of stenosis (group 1: ≥50 to 69%, group 2: 70 to 89% and group 3: ≥90 to 99%). TCD was used to measure the pulsatility index (PI) and cerebral vasomotor reactivity (CVR). Results: In the patient group, significant differences for symptomatic side PI values (p=0.01) and mean CVR increases (p=0.05) were observed, compared with the healthy controls. However, the difference was not statistically significant for asymptomatic side PI values and mean CVR increases. The results from the intergroup comparison showed significantly higher percentages of symptomatic and asymptomatic side CVR increases in group 1, compared with groups 2 and 3 (p=0.001 and p=0.002, respectively). Conclusions: Our study showed that cerebral autoregulation and hemodynamic mechanisms are impaired in patients with carotid artery stenosis. Furthermore, the impairment of PI and CVR tends to get worse with increasing degrees of stenosis. In addition, this study demonstrated that assessment of these two hemodynamic parameters in clinical practice might be helpful for monitoring the progress of carotid artery stenosis.

The Effect of Red and Blue on Gross and Fine Motor Tasks: Confirming the Inverted-U Hypothesis

Previous studies have shown that the color red can affect basic motor functioning. However, these studies utilized simple gross motor tasks rather than those assessing complex fine motor skills. Moreover, these empirical studies were theoretically based on the threat–behavior link in human and non-human animals, and neglected the relationship between arousal and motor performance. According to the Yerkes–Dodson law and the inverted-U hypothesis in sport psychology, for simple motor tasks, high arousal (associated with the color red) is more advantageous than low arousal (associated with the color blue); for complex motor tasks, low arousal (blue color) is more advantageous than high arousal (red color). The current research examined the effect of color on different kinds of motor skills (fine motor and gross motor) based on the inverted U-hypothesis. In Experiment 1, we examined the effect of red and blue on dart-throwing performance, whereas in Experiment 2, we examined the effect of red and blue on grip strength performance. The results showed that performance of fine motor skill (dart-throwing) in the blue condition was better than in the red condition, and performance of gross motor skill (handgrip) in the red context was better than in the blue context. These results indicate that the type of motor skill assessed moderates the influence of red and blue on motor performance.

Individual Optimal Attentional Strategy in Motor Learning Tasks Characterized by Steady-State Somatosensory and Visual Evoked Potentials

Focus of attention is one of the most influential factors facilitating motor performance. Previous evidence supports that the external focus (EF) strategy, which directs attention to movement outcomes, is associated with better motor performance than the internal focus (IF) strategy, which directs attention to body movements. However, recent studies have reported that the EF strategy is not effective for some individuals. Furthermore, neuroimaging studies have demonstrated that the frontal and parietal areas characterize individual optimal attentional strategies for motor tasks. However, whether the sensory cortices are also functionally related to individual optimal attentional strategy remains unclear. Therefore, the present study examined whether an individual’s sensory processing ability would reflect the optimal attentional strategy. To address this point, we explored the relationship between responses in the early sensory cortex and individuals’ optimal attentional strategy by recording steady-state somatosensory evoked potentials (SSSEP) and steady-state visual evoked potentials (SSVEP). Twenty-six healthy young participants first performed a motor learning task with reaching movements under IF and EF conditions. Of the total sample, 12 individuals showed higher after-effects under the IF condition than the EF condition (IF-dominant group), whereas the remaining individuals showed the opposite trend (EF-dominant group). Subsequently, we measured SSSEP from bilateral primary somatosensory cortices while presenting vibrotactile stimuli and measured SSVEP from bilateral primary visual cortices while presenting checkerboard visual stimuli. The degree of increasing SSSEP response when the individuals in the IF-dominant group directed attention to vibrotactile stimuli was significantly more potent than those in the EF-dominant individuals. By contrast, the individuals in the EF-dominant group showed a significantly larger SSVEP increase while they directed attention to visual stimuli compared with the IF-dominant individuals. Furthermore, a significant correlation was observed such that individuals with more robust IF dominance showed more pronounced SSSEP attention modulation. These results suggest that the early sensory areas have crucial brain dynamics to characterize an individual’s optimal attentional strategy during motor tasks. The response characteristics may reflect the individual sensory processing ability, such as control of priority to the sensory inputs. Considering individual cognitive traits based on the suitable attentional strategy could enhance adaptability in motor tasks.

MOVEMENT ASSESSMENT BATTERY FOR CHILDREN-SECOND EDITION: THEORETICAL ADEQUACY OF A MOTOR ASSESSMENT INSTRUMENT

ABSTRACT Objective: To investigate the adequacy of the theoretical model of the Movement Assessment Battery for Children-Second Edition (MABC-2) instrument. Methods: 582 children, of both sexes, aged between 3 and 5 years and residents in the city of Maringá (state of Paraná, Southern Brazil) participated in the study. Data were collected from May/2014 to June/2015 and analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Results: The evidence obtained from exploratory factor analysis indicated the presence of two factors, which was the option that best fitted the explanatory model. Hence, it was necessary to regroup the motor tasks of the dimensions “Aiming & catching” and “Balance” into only one dimension. It is noteworthy that the “Bicycle trail” motor task did not fit the model, as it presented a low and negative factor load in the analyzed dimensions. In the confirmatory factor analysis, adequate adjustment indices were observed for the tested model, which confirmed the non-classification of the “Bicycle trail” motor task in the original dimension. Conclusions: After removing the “Bicycle trail” motor task, the adjusted two-factor model seems to be the most appropriate to assess the motor performance of children participating in the study.

Artifacts in EEG-Based BCI Therapies: Friend or Foe?

EEG-based brain–computer interfaces (BCI) have promising therapeutic potential beyond traditional neurofeedback training, such as enabling personalized and optimized virtual reality (VR) neurorehabilitation paradigms where the timing and parameters of the visual experience is synchronized with specific brain states. While BCI algorithms are often designed to focus on whichever portion of a signal is most informative, in these brain-state-synchronized applications, it is of critical importance that the resulting decoder is sensitive to physiological brain activity representative of various mental states, and not to artifacts, such as those arising from naturalistic movements. In this study, we compare the relative classification accuracy with which different motor tasks can be decoded from both extracted brain activity and artifacts contained in the EEG signal. EEG data were collected from 17 chronic stroke patients while performing six different head, hand, and arm movements in a realistic VR-based neurorehabilitation paradigm. Results show that the artifactual component of the EEG signal is significantly more informative than brain activity with respect to classification accuracy. This finding is consistent across different feature extraction methods and classification pipelines. While informative brain signals can be recovered with suitable cleaning procedures, we recommend that features should not be designed solely to maximize classification accuracy, as this could select for remaining artifactual components. We also propose the use of machine learning approaches that are interpretable to verify that classification is driven by physiological brain states. In summary, whereas informative artifacts are a helpful friend in BCI-based communication applications, they can be a problematic foe in the estimation of physiological brain states.

Music Performance

Music performance involves precise motor control that is coordinated with higher order planning to convey complex structural information. In addition, music performance usually involves motor tasks that are not learned spontaneously (as in the use of the vocal apparatus), the reproduction of preestablished sequences (notated or from memory), and synchronized joint performance with one or more other musicians. Music performance also relies on a rich repertoire of musical knowledge that can be used for purposes of expressive variation and improvisation. As such, the study of music performance provides a way to explore learning, motor control, memory, and interpersonal coordination in the context of a real-world behavior. Music performance skills vary considerably in the population and reflect interactions between genetic predispositions and the effect of intensive practice. At the same time, research suggests that most individuals have the capacity to perform music through singing or learning an instrument, and in this sense music performance taps into a universal human propensity for communication and coordination with conspecifics.

Assessment of Stability of MIMU Probes to Skin-Marker-Based Anatomical Reference Frames During Locomotion Tasks: Effect of Different Locations on the Lower Limb

Soft tissue artefacts (STAs) undermine the validity of skin-mounted approaches to measure skeletal kinematics. Magneto-inertial measurement units (MIMU) gained popularity due to their low cost and ease of use. Although the reliability of different protocols for marker-based joint kinematics estimation has been widely reported, there are still no indications on where to place MIMU to minimize STA. This study aims to find the most stable positions for MIMU placement, among four positions on the thigh, four on the shank, and three on the foot. Stability was investigated by measuring MIMU movements against an anatomical reference frame, defined according to a standard marker-based approach. To this aim, markers were attached both on the case of each MIMU (technical frame) and on bony landmarks (anatomical frame). For each MIMU, the nine angles between each versor of the technical frame with each versor of the corresponding anatomical frame were computed. The maximum standard deviation of these angles was assumed as the instability index of MIMU-body coupling. Six healthy subjects were asked to perform barefoot gait, step negotiation, and sit-to-stand. Results showed that (1) in the thigh, the frontal position was the most stable in all tasks, especially in gait; (2) in the shank, the proximal position is the least stable, (3) lateral or medial calcaneus and foot dorsum positions showed equivalent stability performances. Further studies should be done before generalizing these conclusions to different motor tasks and MIMU-body fixation methods. The above results are of interest for both MIMU-based gait analysis and rehabilitation approaches using wearable sensors-based biofeedback.

Rhythmic ability decline in aging individuals: The role of movement task complexity

Study aim: To investigate age-related changes in rhythmic reproduction ability in relation to the complexity of the adopted movement task. Material and methods: A Stereophotogrammetric system was used to quantify individual rhythmic performances through motion analysis. Seventeen younger adult (age: 34.8 ± 4.2 yrs) and sixteen older adult (age: 69.9 ± 3.8 yrs) sedentary individuals volunteered for this study. Participants were administered a rhythmic test, which included three different rhythmic patterns to be reproduced by means of finger-tapping, foot-tapping and walking. Number of correct reproductions, time delays and rhythmic ratios were assessed and submitted to analysis of variance. Results: For all rhythmic parameters, age-related differences emerged about rhythmic patterns and motor tasks. Older adults showed reduced accuracy as compared to their younger counterparts with a marked tendency to speed up beats reproduction (p < 0.05). Increased movement complexity negatively influenced rhythmic ability, with worst performances in the walking task (p < 0.05). Conclusions: Complexity of the motor reproduction worsen rhythmic ability. Future research should focus on how specific rhythmic training with progressive movement task complexity could contrast this age-related decline.