Executive function entails the core components of response inhibition, working memory and cognitive flexibility. An accumulating literature has shown that a single bout of exercise improves the response inhibition and working memory components of executive function; however, limited work has examined a putative exercise-related improvement to cognitive flexibility. To address this limitation, Experiment

Aiming movements of the upper limbs can be classified either as discrete, or reciprocal, or cyclic. The control of these movements after a stroke can be affected. The aim of this experimental, cross-sectional study was to characterize the performance of these movements after the right and left hemisphere chronic stroke. Thirty-six individuals aged between 40 and 70 years, right-handed, were allocated

It has been proposed that the maintenance of phonological information in verbal working memory (vWM) is carried by a domain-specific short-term storage center—the phonological loop—which is composed of a phonological store and an articulatory rehearsal system. Several brain regions including the left posterior inferior frontal gyrus (pIFG) and anterior supramarginal gyri (aSMG) are thought to support

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder with cardinal manifestation of cognitive dysfunction. The limitation to avail a successful drug candidate encourages researchers to establish an appropriate animal model in the novel anti-AD drug discovery process. In this context, the mechanism of mitochondrial dysfunction in cognitive deficit animals is yet to be established for

Finger-tapping tasks have been widely adopted to investigate auditory-motor synchronization, i.e., the coupling of movement with an external auditory rhythm. However, the discrete nature of these movements usually limits their application to the study of beat perception in the context of isochronous rhythms. The purpose of the present pilot study was to test an innovative task that allows investigating

In the original publication of the article, it was published under the title ‘Mini-review article: the role of spinal reciprocal inhibition and intracortical inhibition in functional recovery from stroke’.

Affective touch plays an important role in human social bonding, affiliative behavior, and in general emotional well-being. A system of unmyelinated low-threshold mechanosensitive C-type afferents innervating hairy skin (C-tactile or CT system) is postulated to provide the neurophysiological background of affective touch perception. C-tactile afferents respond optimally to soft and slow strokes, and

Several tests of mental rotation ability have been used to investigate its development and the origins of sex differences. One of the most used tests is the mental rotation test (MRT) by Vandenberg and Kuse. A limitation of the MRT is that it is a pen-and-paper test with 2D images of 3D objects. This is a challenge to the ecological validity of the MRT because mental rotation typically involves physical

Neural substrates, including brain areas, differential gene expression and neuroendocrine basis, of migration are known. However, very little is known about structural changes in the brain that underlie the development and cessation of migration in long-distance avian migrants. Towards this, we investigated neuromorphological changes in the higher-order associative areas in male redheaded bunting (Emberiza

Over the last 30 years, the concept of dystonia has dramatically changed, from being considered a motor neurosis, to a pure basal ganglia disorder, to finally reach the definition of a network disorder involving the basal ganglia, cerebellum, thalamus and sensorimotor cortex. This progress has been possible due to the collaboration between clinicians and scientists, and the development of increasingly

A common neural control mechanism coordinates various types of rhythmic locomotion performed in the sagittal plane, but it is unclear whether frontal plane movements show similar neural patterning in adult humans. The purpose of this study was to compare cutaneous reflex modulation patterns evoked during sagittal and frontal plane rhythmic movements. Eight healthy, neurologically intact adults (three

Early life aversive experiences can trigger persistent deficits in neuronal signaling within the mesolimbic pathway, most notably in the dopamine (DA) neurons of the ventral tegmental area (VTA). The identity of such cellular mechanisms currently appears as an important issue. To address this concern, we investigated whether early life maternal deprivation (MD) would affect the electrical activity

Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) based methods are emerging as a unique approach to evaluate in real-time brain electrical activity in healthy and pathological conditions. By applying TMS pulses in two different bran areas within a short temporal frame of few milliseconds, it is possible to investigate their physiological interactions. These paradigms, collectively termed dual-site TMS, have

Balance maintenance in response to a perturbation could be affected by the predictability of the magnitude of the body disturbance. We investigated anticipatory (APAs) and compensatory (CPAs) postural adjustments in response to perturbations of predictable and unpredictable magnitudes. Twenty young adults received series of perturbations of small or large magnitudes the order of which was varied. Electromyographic

Pusher behavior (PB) is a severe lateral postural disorder that involves a disturbed subjective postural vertical (SPV) in the frontal plane. SPV is measured by determining the mean value and standard deviation of several trials beginning on both the contralesional- and ipsilesional-tilted positions. However, the postural representation, when passively tilted to the contralesional versus ipsilesional

Are visual representations in the human early visual cortex necessary for visual working memory (VWM)? Previous studies suggest that VWM is underpinned by distributed representations across several brain regions, including the early visual cortex. Notably, in these studies, participants had to memorize images under consistent visual conditions. However, in our daily lives, we must retain the essential

Repetitive transcranial stimulation (rTMS) paradigms have been used to induce lasting changes in brain activity and excitability. Previous methods of stimulation were long, often ineffective and produced short-lived and variable results. A new non-invasive brain stimulation technique was developed in John Rothwell’s laboratory in the early 2000s, which was named ‘theta burst stimulation’ (TBS). This

Mismatch-related brain activation in healthy individuals is an important area of neural investigation. Previously, we evaluated sentence-level syntactic dependencies, composed of a head and a dependent between two syntactically related words in head-initial English structures. We demonstrated that prominent mismatch effects were induced by within-category dependent errors when semantic interpretation

Interactions from both inhibitory and excitatory interneurons are necessary components of cortical processing that contribute to the vast amount of motor actions executed by humans daily. As transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) over primary motor cortex is capable of activating corticospinal neurons trans-synaptically, studies over the past 30 years have provided how subtle changes in stimulation

As the proportion of people over 60 years of age rises continuously in westernized societies, it becomes increasingly important to better understand aging processes and how to maintain independence in old age. Fine motor tasks are essential in daily living and, therefore, necessary to maintain. This paper extends the existing literature on fine motor control by manipulating the difficulty of a force

It is well known that our body works as a fundamental reference when we perform visuo-perceptual judgements in spatial surroundings, and that body illusions can modify our perception of size and distance of objects in space. To date, however, few studies have evaluated whether or not a body illusion could have a significant impact on the way individuals perceive to move within the environment. Here

Rapid grip force responses to unexpected pulling loads on the fingertips are deteriorated in older adults due to, in part, age-related declines in somatosensory function. Such reports are limited to one-hand conditions despite the higher frequency of using two hands together in daily living activities of older adults. Unexpected perturbations during bimanual movements elicit goal-oriented and cortically-meditated

Early life stress (ELS) exposure is a well-known risk factor for the development of psychiatric conditions, including anxiety disorder. Preclinical studies show that maternal separation (MS), a classical model of ELS, causes hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal (HPA) axis alterations, a key contributor to the stress response modulation. Given that HPA axis activation has been shown to induce oxidative stress

A growing body of evidence suggests that the mode of movement selection is relevant for the readiness potential, namely, internal (or free) selection of movements is associated with increased readiness potential amplitudes compared to predetermined or externally guided selection. It is little acknowledged, however, that this finding may be ascribed to the different expression of volition (i.e., conscious

Improved balance control is an often-cited potential benefit for trampoline interventions. However, it is unknown whether the soft, elastic surface of a trampoline elicits different motion and neuromuscular strategies between adults and children. Therefore, the purpose of the study was to evaluate the center-of-mass (COM) dynamics and neuromuscular strategies for hopping on a mini-trampoline in adults

Action observation (AO) and motor imagery (MI) are potential methods to improve various motor functions. AO and MI facilitate corticospinal excitability. Additionally, the combination of AO and MI (AO + MI) facilitates greater corticospinal excitability than AO alone. However, it is unclear whether AO + MI facilitates the excitability of spinal motor neurons better than AO alone. Thus, in this study

Empathy for pain is at the basis of altruistic behaviors and is known to be modulated by variables such as group membership, pleasantness or unpleasantness of situations and social relationships. Also, face attractiveness and aesthetic judgment might play a role when observing a person in painful conditions, by increasing individuals’ empathic responsiveness. Indeed, physical attractiveness can modify

Dystonia is a movement disorder characterised by involuntary muscle contractions resulting in abnormal movements, postures and tremor. The pathophysiology of dystonia is not fully understood but loss of neuronal inhibition, excessive sensorimotor plasticity and defective sensory processing are thought to contribute to network dysfunction underlying the disorder. Neurophysiology studies have been important

Chlorpyrifos (CPF) is one of the most abundant and widely used pesticides in the world. CPF has detrimental effects on brain tissue, so it is possible to generate some neurodegenerative diseases. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of CPF on inducing the Parkinson’s disease affecting on central nervous system. 6 to 8-week-old animals were categorized into three groups. The first group

The rubber-hand illusion is an illusion where a person embodies a rubber hand as if it were their own. After embodiment, many studies have threatened the false hand and measured physiological responses to the threat for the purposes of verification. For the first time, we tested if embodiment of the false hand could be modulated with a fearful stimulus already present prior to the elicitation of the

Action binding refers to the observation that the perceived time of an action (e.g., a keypress) is shifted towards the distal sensory feedback (usually a sound) triggered by that action. Surprisingly, the role of somatosensory feedback for this phenomenon has been largely ignored. We fill this gap by showing that the somatosensory feedback, indexed by keypress peak force, is functional in judging

Peripersonal space (PPS) corresponds to the space around the body and it is defined by the location in space where multimodal inputs from bodily and external stimuli are integrated. Its extent varies according to the characteristics of external stimuli, e.g., the salience of an emotional facial expression. In the present study, we investigated the psycho-physiological correlates of the extension phenomenon

Picking-up and exploiting spatial and temporal regularities in the occurrence of sensory events is important for goal-directed behaviour. According to the “Predictive Coding Hypothesis” (Friston Philosophical Trans R Soc B 360(1456):815–836, 2005), these regularities are used to generate top-down predictions that are constantly compared with actual sensory events. In a previous study with the Attentional

In everyday life, we often use graphical interfaces where the visual space is mapped to the motor space with a visuomotor gain called the control display gain. One of the key objectives in the field of Human Computer Interaction is to design this control display gain so as to enhance users’ performance. Although the control display gain involved in operating systems has been found to improve users’

Dopaminergic deficiency in Parkinson’s disease (PD) has been associated with underactivation of the supplementary motor area and a reduction of voluntary actions. In these patients, awareness of intention to act has been shown to be delayed. However, delayed awareness of intention to act has also been shown in patients with hyperdopaminergic states and an excess of unwilled movements, as in Tourette’s

Ankle dorsiflexion force control is essential for performing daily living activities. However, the involvement of the corticospinal pathway during different ankle dorsiflexion tasks is not well understood. The objective of this study was to compare the corticospinal excitability during: (1) unilateral and bilateral; and (2) ballistic and tonic ankle dorsiflexion force control. Fifteen healthy young

Rhesus macaques are widely used as animal models for studies of the nervous system; however, it is unknown whether the alterations in the protein profile of the brain during aging are conserved between humans and rhesus macaques. In this study, temporal cortex samples from old and young humans (84 vs. 34 years, respectively) or rhesus macaques (20 vs. 6 years, respectively) were subjected to tandem

Humans show a gravitational advantage in perception: we are more precise at judging the speed of downwards-moving than upwards-moving objects, indicating that gravitational acceleration is an internalised prior. However, it is unclear whether this gravity prior is based on purely perceptual cues or whether it can incorporate semantic knowledge. Previous research has used only objects which are known

Acute musculoskeletal pain is associated with reductions in corticomotor output that persists even after pain resolves. Factors that contribute to corticomotor depression following acute pain are unknown. This study examined whether psychological factors, including pain catastrophising, kinesiophobia, and implicit theories of pain, were associated with corticomotor depression following acute experimental

The aim of the study was to investigate the possible association of hypnotizability and deep sleep (N3) duration, and whether the interoceptive sensibility influences this association. This was motivated by the proneness of highly hypnotizable individuals to easily change their psychophysiological state, i.e., from wakefulness to hypnosis and sleep, and by the positive association observed between

The aim of this study was to examine the effects of 5 days of anodal-transcranial direct current stimulation (a-tDCS) over the primary motor cortex (M1) on lower extremity functional performance in healthy elderly people. This was a randomized, double-blinded, sham-controlled study whereby 32 healthy older individuals participated in two groups. The intervention group received 20 min of a-tDCS (1 mA)

Both visual and body-based (vestibular and proprioceptive) information contribute to spatial updating, or the way a navigator keeps track of self-position during movement. Research has tested the relative contributions of these sources of information and found mixed results, with some studies demonstrating the importance of body-based information, especially for translation, and some demonstrating

Spinal reciprocal inhibition (RI) and intracortical inhibition are important physiological mechanisms for voluntary movement control and functional recovery of voluntary movement in patients with stroke. Spasticity, which impairs motor performance, is one of the major manifestations of stroke. RI may be involved in reducing spasticity. This might allow finger extension, and, therefore, better hand

Introduction Despite advanced diagnostic and therapeutic techniques, many brain tumors are still diagnosed at high grades and, therefore finding novel molecular markers may assist in early detection and reducing brain tumors-related mortality rate. Owing to the previous reports on the importance of MCPH1 gene in tumorigenesis, the present study was aimed to study the promoter methylation of MCPH1 gene

We used the theory of control with spatial referent coordinates (RC) to explore how young, healthy persons modify finger pressing force and match forces between the two hands. Three specific hypotheses were tested related to patterns of RC and apparent stiffness (defined as the slope of force-coordinate relation) used in the presence of visual feedback on the force and in its absence. The subjects

Head turning while walking may challenge stability by altering visual and vestibular information. Whether there are age-related changes that affect gait stability while head turning during walking remains unknown. The aim of the current study was to compare gait stability between younger and older adults immediately following a head turn while walking. Ten younger [mean (SD)] [23.4 (3.3) years] and

Past studies have found poorer performance on vertical heading judgement accuracy compared to horizontal heading judgement accuracy. In everyday life, precise vertical heading judgements are used less often than horizontal heading judgements as we cannot usually control our vertical direction. However, pilots judging a landing approach need to consistently discriminate vertical heading angles to land

We explored how reward and value of effort shapes performance in a sustained vigilance, reaction time (RT) task. It was posited that reward and value would hasten RTs and increase cognitive effort by boosting activation in the sensorimotor cortex and inhibition in the frontal cortex, similar to the horse-race model of motor actions. Participants performed a series of speeded responses while expecting

In the original publication of the article, Fig. 3 is incorrect.

Individuals with Parkinson’s disease (PD) have deficits in reach-to-grasp (RTG) execution and visuospatial processing which may be a result of dopamine deficiency in two brain regions: primary motor cortex (M1) and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC). We hypothesized that improvement following M1 stimulation would be the result of a direct impact on motor execution; whereas, DLPFC stimulation would

In everyday life, our brain constantly builds spatial representations of the objects surrounding us. Many studies have investigated the nature of these spatial representations. It is well established that we use allocentric information in real-time and memory-guided movements. Most studies relied on small-scale and static experiments, leaving it unclear whether similar paradigms yield the same results

There is increasing evidence that movement variability during motor skill acquisition plays a functional role. Specifically, initial variability might represent exploration of the possible motor space for solutions and error identification. Following practice, individuals might exploit a reduced amount of motor solutions to execute the task. While this variability pattern has been supported during

In this review, we highlight Professor John Rothwell’s contribution towards understanding basal ganglia function and dysfunction, as well as the effects of subthalamic nucleus deep brain stimulation (STN DBS). The first section summarizes the rate and oscillatory models of basal ganglia dysfunction with a focus on the oscillation model. The second section summarizes the motor, gait, and cognitive mechanisms

Hypoglossal–facial nerve anastomosis (HFA) aims to reanimate denervated mimic muscles with hypoglossal axons when the transected facial nerve is not accessible. The aim of this study was to evaluate the recovery of HFA using a “Y” tube in two variants: (1) the proximal stump of the hypoglossal nerve was entubulated to the “Y” tube (classic “Y” tube HFA) and (2) the “Y” tube was sutured to an epineurial

An increased risk of falling is associated with changes in gait while dual-tasking. The degree to which gait stability is altered during walking is influenced by an individual’s cognitive and postural capacity, and the difficulty of the presented tasks. However, it is unknown how greater walking task difficulty affects gait stability in younger and older adults when dual-tasking. The purpose of the

Prepulse inhibition (PPI), the suppression of the startle reflex when the startling stimulus is shortly preceded by a weaker non-startling sensory stimulus (prepulse), can be enhanced by selective attention to the prepulse with a marked prepulse-feature specificity. To determine if the attentional modulation of PPI in rats can also be perceptual location specific, this study investigated whether fear-conditioning

With a visual memory of where our hands are, their perceived location drifts. We investigated whether the perceived location of one hand or the spacing between two hands drifts in the absence of visual memories or cues. In 30 participants (17 females, mean age 27 years, range 20–45 years), perceived location of the right index finger was assessed when it was 10 cm to the right or left of the midline

The present study investigated the effects of aging on the distribution of common descending neural drives to main postural muscles acting on the ankle, knee, hip, and lower trunk. The presence, distribution, and strength of these drives were assessed using intermuscular coherence estimations at a low-frequency band (0–55 Hz). Ten healthy older adults (68.7 ± 3.5 years) with no recent history of falls

Neural interactions between sensorimotor integration mechanisms play critical roles in voice motor control. We investigated how high-definition transcranial direct current stimulation (HD-tDCS) of the left ventral motor cortex modulates neural mechanisms of sensorimotor integration during voice motor control. HD-tDCS was performed during speech vowel production in an altered auditory feedback (AAF)

Humans are extraordinarily skilled in the tactile evaluation of, and differentiation between, surfaces. The chemical and mechanical properties of these surfaces are translated into tactile signals during haptic exploration by mechanoreceptors in our skin, which are specialized to respond to different types of temporal and mechanical stimulation. Describing the effects of measurable physical characteristics