-
Experimental Brain Research Apr 2024Psychomotor slowing has consistently been observed in schizophrenia, however research on motor learning in schizophrenia is limited. Additionally, motor learning in...
Psychomotor slowing has consistently been observed in schizophrenia, however research on motor learning in schizophrenia is limited. Additionally, motor learning in schizophrenia has never been compared with the waning of motor learning abilities in the elderly. Therefore, in an extensive study, 30 individuals with schizophrenia, 30 healthy age-matched controls and 30 elderly participants were compared on sensorimotor learning tasks including sequence learning and adaptation (both explicit and implicit), as well as tracking and aiming. This paper presents new findings on an explicit motor sequence learning task, an explicit verbal learning task and a simple aiming task and summarizes all previously published findings of this large investigation. Individuals with schizophrenia and elderly had slower Movement Time (MT)s compared with controls in all tasks, however both groups improved over time. Elderly participants learned slower on tracking and explicit sequence learning while individuals with schizophrenia adapted slower and to a lesser extent to movement perturbations in adaptation tasks and performed less well on cognitive tests including the verbal learning task. Results suggest that motor slowing is present in schizophrenia and the elderly, however both groups show significant but different motor skill learning. Cognitive deficits seem to interfere with motor learning and performance in schizophrenia while task complexity and decreased movement precision interferes with motor learning in the elderly, reflecting different underlying patterns of decline in these conditions. In addition, evidence for motor slowing together with impaired implicit adaptation supports the influence of cerebellum and the cerebello-thalamo-cortical-cerebellar (CTCC) circuits in schizophrenia, important for further understanding the pathophysiology of the disorder.
Topics: Humans; Aged; Psychomotor Performance; Schizophrenia; Learning; Aging; Verbal Learning
PubMed: 38459999
DOI: 10.1007/s00221-024-06797-9 -
Experimental Brain Research Jan 2021The control of human movements is thought to automize with repetition, promoting consistent execution and reduced dual-task costs. However, contingencies such as illness...
The control of human movements is thought to automize with repetition, promoting consistent execution and reduced dual-task costs. However, contingencies such as illness or constraints to regular movement patterns can promote conscious motor control, which can reduce movement proficiency and make dual-task situations more difficult. This experiment evaluated whether electroencephalographic neurofeedback training can reduce the adverse effects of conscious motor control. Twenty-five participants completed the timed-up-and-go task while wearing a leg brace to de-automize their regular movement, under both single and dual-task (walking + serial sevens) conditions, both before and after 30-min of neurofeedback training. Three different types of neurofeedback were prescribed across three laboratory visits. We hypothesised that training to decrease central EEG alpha-power at scalp sites above the supplementary motor area would facilitate performance compared to opposite (increase central EEG alpha-power) or sham neurofeedback training. Results revealed a pre-test to post-test improvement in performance on the single-task and on both aspects of the dual-task when participants were trained to decrease central EEG alpha-power. There were no benefits of opposite or sham neurofeedback training. Mediation analyses revealed that the improvement in dual-task motor performance was mediated by the improvement in cognitive performance. This suggests that the neurofeedback protocol was beneficial because it helped to reduce conscious control of the motor task. The findings could have important implications for rehabilitation and high-performance (e.g., elite sport) domains; neurofeedback could be prescribed to help alleviate the problems that can arise when individuals exert conscious motor control.
Topics: Electroencephalography; Humans; Movement; Neurofeedback; Psychomotor Performance; Task Performance and Analysis
PubMed: 33165672
DOI: 10.1007/s00221-020-05935-3 -
Advances in Experimental Medicine and... 2016In order to reliably produce intelligible speech or fluently play a melody on a piano, learning the precise timing of muscle activations is essential. Surprisingly, the... (Review)
Review
In order to reliably produce intelligible speech or fluently play a melody on a piano, learning the precise timing of muscle activations is essential. Surprisingly, the fundamental question of how memories of complex temporal dynamics of movement are stored across the brain is still unresolved. This review outlines the constraints that determine whether and how the timing of skilled movements is represented in the central nervous system and introduces different computational and neural mechanisms that can be harnessed for temporal encoding. It concludes by proposing a schematic model of how these different mechanisms may complement and interact with each other in fast feedback loops to achieve skilled motor timing.
Topics: Brain; Humans; Learning; Movement; Psychomotor Performance
PubMed: 28035559
DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-47313-0_3 -
Scientific Reports Sep 2022The more distant two consecutive stimuli are presented, the longer the temporal interstimulus interval (ISI) between their presentations is perceived (kappa effect). The...
The more distant two consecutive stimuli are presented, the longer the temporal interstimulus interval (ISI) between their presentations is perceived (kappa effect). The present study aimed at testing whether the kappa effect not only affects perceptual estimates of time, but also motor action, more specifically, interception. In a first step, the original kappa paradigm was adapted to assess the effect in temporal prediction. Second, the task was further modified to an interception task, requiring participants to spatially and temporally predict and act. In two online experiments, a white circle was successively presented at three locations moving from left to right with constant spatial and temporal ISIs in between. Participants were asked to either (i) indicate the time of appearance of the predicted fourth stimulus (Exp. 1) or to (ii) intercept the predicted fourth location at the correct time (Exp. 2). In both experiments the temporal response depended on the spatial intervals. In line with the kappa effect, participants predicted the final stimulus to appear later (Exp. 1) or intercepted it later (Exp. 2), the more distant the stimuli were presented. Together, these results suggest that perceptual biases such as the kappa effect impact motor interception performance.
Topics: Humans; Psychomotor Performance; Spatial Analysis
PubMed: 36138102
DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-18789-2 -
Cell Reports May 2020To understand the neural basis of behavior, it is important to reveal how movements are planned, executed, and refined by networks of neurons distributed throughout the...
To understand the neural basis of behavior, it is important to reveal how movements are planned, executed, and refined by networks of neurons distributed throughout the nervous system. Here, we report the neuroanatomical organization and behavioral roles of cerebellospinal (CeS) neurons. Using intersectional genetic techniques, we find that CeS neurons constitute a small minority of excitatory neurons in the fastigial and interpositus deep cerebellar nuclei, target pre-motor circuits in the ventral spinal cord and the brain, and control distinct aspects of movement. CeS neurons that project to the ipsilateral cervical cord are required for skilled forelimb performance, while CeS neurons that project to the contralateral cervical cord are involved in skilled locomotor learning. Together, this work establishes CeS neurons as a critical component of the neural circuitry for skilled movements and provides insights into the organizational logic of motor networks.
Topics: Animals; Cerebellar Nuclei; Mice; Neurons; Psychomotor Performance
PubMed: 32402292
DOI: 10.1016/j.celrep.2020.107595 -
Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews Apr 2023Living in a social world requires social monitoring, i.e., the ability to keep track of others' actions and mistakes. Here, we demonstrate the good reliability of the... (Review)
Review
Living in a social world requires social monitoring, i.e., the ability to keep track of others' actions and mistakes. Here, we demonstrate the good reliability of the behavioral and neurophysiological indexes ascribed to social monitoring. We also show that no consensus exists on the cognitive bases of this phenomenology and discuss three alternative hypotheses: (i) the direct matching hypothesis, postulating that observed errors are processed through automatic simulation; (ii) the attentional hypothesis, considering errors as unexpected events that take resources away from task processing; and (iii) the goal representation hypothesis, which weighs social error monitoring depending on how relevant the other's task is to the observer's goals. To date, evidence on the role played by factors that could help to disentangle these hypotheses (e.g., the human vs. non-human nature of the actor, the error rate, and the reward context) is insufficient, although the goal representation hypothesis seems to receive more support. Theory-driven experimental designs are needed to enlighten this debate and clarify the role of error monitoring during interactive exchanges.
Topics: Humans; Interpersonal Relations; Reproducibility of Results; Social Environment; Psychomotor Performance
PubMed: 36758826
DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2023.105077 -
PloS One 2015The influence of positive or negative expectations on clinical outcomes such as pain relief or motor performance in patients and healthy participants has been...
The influence of positive or negative expectations on clinical outcomes such as pain relief or motor performance in patients and healthy participants has been extensively investigated for years. Such research promises potential benefit for patient treatment by deliberately using expectations as means to stimulate endogenous regulation processes. Especially regarding recent interest and controversies revolving around cognitive enhancement, the question remains whether mere expectancies might also yield enhancing or impairing effects in the cognitive domain, i.e., can we improve or impair cognitive performance simply by creating a strong expectancy in participants about their performance? Moreover, previous literature suggests that especially subjective perception is highly susceptible to expectancy effects, whereas objective measures can be affected in certain domains, but not in others. Does such a dissociation of objective measures and subjective perception also apply to cognitive placebo and nocebo effects? In this study, we sought to investigate whether placebo and nocebo effects can be evoked in cognitive tasks, and whether these effects influence objective and subjective measures alike. To this end, we instructed participants about alleged effects of different tone frequencies (high, intermediate, low) on brain activity and cognitive functions. We paired each tone with specific success rates in a Flanker task paradigm as a preliminary conditioning procedure, adapted from research on placebo hypoalgesia. In a subsequent test phase, we measured reaction times and success rates in different expectancy conditions (placebo, nocebo, and control) and then asked participants how the different tone frequencies affected their performance. Interestingly, we found no effects of expectation on objective measures, but a strong effect on subjective perception, i.e., although actual performance was not affected by expectancy, participants strongly believed that the placebo tone frequency improved their performance.
Topics: Adult; Brain; Central Nervous System Stimulants; Cognition; Female; Humans; Male; Nocebo Effect; Nootropic Agents; Perception; Placebo Effect; Psychomotor Performance; Young Adult
PubMed: 26148009
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0130492 -
Movement Disorders : Official Journal... Dec 2016Task-specific focal dystonia (TSFD) is a disorder marked by degraded coordination in complex and exacting psychomotor tasks, such as musical performance. Its development... (Review)
Review
INTRODUCTION
Task-specific focal dystonia (TSFD) is a disorder marked by degraded coordination in complex and exacting psychomotor tasks, such as musical performance. Its development is associated with prolonged and intensive practice of these tasks, but the etiology of TSFD is still unknown. The prevailing hypothesis was informed by findings in primates following repetitive simple grasping actions. This model implies, however, that complex manual tasks that yield more intricate and subtly varying sensorimotor patterns, as found in musical performance and handwriting, should be unlikely to lead to focal dystonia.
HYPOTHESIS
We propose an alternative, "predictive-control" etiological hypothesis: When an overtaxed performer exhibits poorly controlled variability and errors in motor execution of a well-learned, high-precision task, predictive control processes deteriorate. This includes, in particular, those related to the formation or updating of a forward dynamic model that maps motor commands to predicted end-effector state, e.g. position and velocity of a key-pressing digit.
CONCLUSION
Based on a critical literature review we argue that this results in the characteristic signs of focal dystonia, such as freezing, halting and inappropriate co-contraction specific to the task. Directions for future research are briefly discussed. © 2016 International Parkinson and Movement Disorder Society.
Topics: Dystonic Disorders; Executive Function; Humans; Psychomotor Performance
PubMed: 27787939
DOI: 10.1002/mds.26818 -
Scientific Reports Feb 2023Previous studies suggest that humans are capable of coregulating the speed of decisions and movements if promoted by task incentives. It is unclear however whether such...
Previous studies suggest that humans are capable of coregulating the speed of decisions and movements if promoted by task incentives. It is unclear however whether such behavior is inherent to the process of translating decisional information into movements, beyond posing a valid strategy in some task contexts. Therefore, in a behavioral online study we imposed time constraints to either decision- or movement phases of a sensorimotor task, ensuring that coregulating decisions and movements was not promoted by task incentives. We found that participants indeed moved faster when fast decisions were promoted and decided faster when subsequent finger tapping movements had to be executed swiftly. These results were further supported by drift diffusion modelling and inspection of psychophysical kernels: Sensorimotor delays related to initiating the finger tapping sequence were shorter in fast-decision as compared to slow-decision blocks. Likewise, the decisional speed-accuracy tradeoff shifted in favor of faster decisions in fast-tapping as compared to slow-tapping blocks. These findings suggest that decisions not only impact movement characteristics, but that properties of movement impact the time taken to decide. We interpret these behavioral results in the context of embodied decision-making, whereby shared neural mechanisms may modulate decisions and movements in a joint fashion.
Topics: Humans; Psychomotor Performance; Reaction Time; Movement
PubMed: 36841847
DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-30325-4 -
Journal of Neurophysiology Jan 2023Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder that has noted alterations to motor performance and coordination, potentially affecting...
Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder that has noted alterations to motor performance and coordination, potentially affecting learning processes and the acquisition of motor skills. This work will provide insight into the role of altered neural processing and sensorimotor integration (SMI) while learning a novel visuomotor task in young adults with ADHD. This work compared adults with ADHD ( = 12) to neurotypical controls ( = 16), using a novel visuomotor tracing task, where participants used their right-thumb to trace a sinusoidal waveform that varied in both frequency and amplitude. This learning paradigm was completed in pre, acquisition, and post blocks, where participants additionally returned and completed a retention and transfer test 24 h later. Right median nerve short latency somatosensory-evoked potentials (SEPs) were collected pre and post motor acquisition. Performance accuracy and variability improved at post and retention measures for both groups for both normalized ( < 0.001) and absolute ( < 0.001) performance scores. N18 SEP: increased in the ADHD group post motor learning and decreased in controls ( < 0.05). N20 SEP: increased in both groups post motor learning ( < 0.01). P25: increased in both groups post motor learning ( < 0.001). N24: increased for both groups at post measures ( < 0.05). N30: decreased in the ADHD group and increased in controls ( < 0.05). These findings suggest that there may be differences in cortico-cerebellar and prefrontal processing in response to novel visuomotor tasks in those with ADHD. Alterations to somatosensory-evoked potentials (SEPs) were present in young adults with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), when compared with neurotypical controls. The N18 and N30 SEP peak had differential changes between groups, suggesting alterations to olivary-cerebellar-M1 processing and SMI in those with ADHD when acquiring a novel visuomotor tracing task. This suggests that short-latency SEPs may be a useful biomarker in the assessment of differential responses to motor acquisition in those with ADHD.
Topics: Humans; Young Adult; Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity; Psychomotor Performance; Motor Skills; Learning; Thumb; Electroencephalography
PubMed: 36448686
DOI: 10.1152/jn.00173.2022