In a bimanual task, proprioception provides information about position and movement of upper arms. Developmental studies showed improvement of proprioceptive accuracy and timing adjustments of muscular events from childhood to adulthood in bimanual tasks. However, the cortical maturational changes related to bimanual coordination is not fully understood. The aim of this study was to investigate cortical correlates underlying motor planning and upper limb stabilization performance at left (C3) and right (C4) sensorimotor cortices using event-related potential (ERP) analyses. We recruited 46 participants divided into four groups (12 children: 8–10 years, 13 early adolescents: 11–13 years, 11 late adolescents: 14–16 years and 10 young adults: 20–35 years). Participants performed a bimanual load-lifting task, where the left postural arm supported the load and the right motor arm lifted the load. Maximal amplitude of elbow rotation (MA%) of the postural arm, reaction time (RT) and EMG activity of biceps brachii bilaterally were computed. Laplacian-transformed ERPs of the electroencephalographic (EEG) signal response-locked to motor arm biceps EMG activity onset were analyzed over C3 and C4. We found a developmental effect for behavioral and EEG data denoted by significant decrease of MA% and RT with age, earlier inhibition of the biceps brachii of the postural arm in adults and earlier EEG activation/inhibition onset at C3/C4. Amplitude of the negative wave at C4 was higher in children and early adolescents compared to the other groups. In conclusion, we found a maturational process in cortical correlates related to motor planning and upper limb stabilization performance with interhemispheric lateralization appearing during adolescence. Findings may serve documenting bimanual performance in children with neurodevelopmental disorders.

在两项任务中，本体感受提供有关上臂的位置和运动的信息。发育研究显示，在双手任务中，从儿童期到成年期的本体感觉准确性和对肌肉事件的时间调整都有改善。但是，还没有完全了解与双手协调有关的皮质成熟变化。这项研究的目的是使用事件相关电位（ERP）分析研究左运动（C3）和右运动（C4）感觉运动皮层潜在运动计划和上肢稳定表现的皮质相关性。我们招募了46名参与者，分为四组（12名儿童：8-10岁，13个早期青少年：11-13岁，11个晚期青少年：14-16岁，10个年轻人：20-35岁）。参与者执行了双向的举重任务，左姿势臂支撑负载，右电动机臂举起负载。计算双侧肱二头肌姿势臂的最大肘关节旋转幅度（MA％），反应时间（RT）和肌电活动。在C3和C4上分析了锁定于运动臂二头肌EMG活动发作的脑电图（EEG）信号响应的拉普拉斯变换的ERPs。我们发现了行为和脑电数据的发展效应，表明其随着年龄的增长而MA％和RT显着降低，成人姿势臂的肱二头肌肱较早抑制以及C3 / C4处较早的脑电激活/抑制开始。与其他组相比，儿童和青少年中C4处的负波幅度更高。结论，我们发现与运动计划和上肢稳定表现相关的皮质相关性的成熟过程与青春期期间出现的半球半球化有关。这些发现可能有助于证明患有神经发育障碍的儿童的双手表现。