The present study sought to evaluate how mental effort modulates premotor activity within forearm muscles in the context of an isometric grasping task. Muscle activity of the flexor digitorum superficialis (FDS) and extensor digitorum communis (EDC) was recorded during the application of maximum grip forces in nineteen healthy adult subjects. Each subject was examined under two experimental conditions:

Previous research has revealed rapid feedback mediated responses in one arm to mechanical perturbations applied to the other arm during shared bimanual tasks. We now ask whether these interlimb responses are expressed symmetrically. We tested this question in a virtual reality environment: a cursor representing each hand was used to 'pick up' each end of a virtual bar and place it into a target trough

We compared the effect of visual information on the dominant upper limb position sense of children with diplegic cerebral palsy (n = 10) and normally developing children (n = 10). An isokinetic dynamometer passively moved the dominant forearm in 120° of elbow flexion/extension until the volunteers stopped the machine to indicate that the elbow joint was positioned in the predetermined target angle

Changing automatized movement patterns often leads to initial performance decrements caused by proactive interference. In this study, we scrutinized whether proactive interference could be reduced by inhibiting the to-be-changed movement pattern by means of a physical movement constraint and verbal inhibition instructions, and whether any of the two interventions may be superior. Skilled typists typed

High impact forces during running have been associated with tibial stress injuries. Previous research has demonstrated increasing step rate will decrease impact forces during running. However, no research has determined the cognitive demand of gait retraining. The primary purpose was to determine the cognitive demand and effectiveness of field-based gait retraining. We hypothesized that in-field gait

We asked whether body sway would be influenced by visual information about motion of the ground surface. On a ship at sea, standing participants performed a demanding visual search task or a simple visual inspection task. Display content was stationary relative to the ship or relative to the Earth. Participants faced the ship's bow or its port side. Performance on the visual search task was representative

We aimed to investigate the effect of external load on the joint position sense (JPS) accuracy and its relation to the target jump height. The present study also aimed to explore the relationship between force sense (FS) and maximum voluntary isometric contraction (MVIC). Participants' MVIC levels were determined during the 45-degree knee extension task. Then, participants were asked to execute a knee

In this study, we compared the effectiveness of concurrent action observation and motor imagery (AO + MI), observing with the intent to imitate (active observation; AO), and passive observation (PO) training interventions for improving eye-hand coordination. Fifty participants were assigned to five groups [AO + MI, AO, PO, physical practice (PP); control] and performed a visuomotor rotation task, whilst

To reveal how the CNS copes with load uncertainty in catching, electromyography (EMG) was recorded in 15 females and 14 males while catching visually identical balls of known and unknown weights under varied (1-10 s) and constant (1 s) foreperiods (warning time). EMG integrals, which represented total muscle activity, were computed for three time intervals prior to the catch (anticipatory), and one

Recent studies examining children diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) have revealed kinematic markers highlighting deficits in the preparatory and online phases of upper extremity movements. In the following study, 12 children with high functioning ASD were first assessed (pre-test) on 15 trials of a reciprocal upper extremity Fitts Law target task by flexing and extending their right arm

We investigated changes in control of inter-segmental dynamics underlying upper extremity dyscoordination caused by stroke. Individuals with stroke and healthy individuals performed a natural reach-to-grasp movement. Kinetic analysis revealed that both groups rotated the shoulder by muscle torque and used interaction torque to rotate the elbow. However, individuals with stroke used interaction torque

The time T needed to reach a target of width W located at distance D varies as a logarithmic or power function of the quotient of D/W. The received, strong version of Fitts' law requires isochrony-the invariance of T across different D/W conditions with the same quotient-but there is room for a weaker, yet nontrivial version of Fitts' law where scale influences T without interacting with the crucial

An external focus of attention is considered superior to an internal focus for learning and performance. However, findings specific to changing the task difficulty are inconsistent. The present study used a reciprocal aiming task to determine the effects of attentional focus on motor performance using speed-accuracy paradigm. We constrained timing to examine how internal and external focus of attention

The presence of visual dependence as an influential factor on the development of functional stability in ambulatory individuals with cerebral palsy (CP) was studied in 22 adults with spastic bilateral CP, 11 of whom were considered visually dependent, and 18 healthy adults. Participants stood upright during pitch plane disturbances of the visual field and support surface. Intersegmental coordination

The purpose of this preliminary investigation was to determine if an intervention program using pedal-less bicycles could improve stability scores among preschool aged children. Currently, there has not been literature demonstrating if this intervention will improve balance scores. Twenty healthy children, aged three to five years old were recruited to determine if pedal-less bicycles would improve

Amblyopia influences psychomotor and psychosocial skills, although not all studies are unanimous. Different treatments coexist, but the effect on those variables is not clear. This study aims to probe whether children with amblyopia have impairments in these areas and if different optometric treatments reduce them effectively. 50 children, diagnosed with amblyopia, and 33 without amblyopia participated

The aim of the exploratory study was to investigate the individual and combined effects of light finger touch, a cognitive task, and vision on postural sway in individuals with stroke. Nine older adults with stroke stood on the force platform with eyes open and eyes closed, with and without a light finger touch contact with the stationary frame, and when counting backward from a randomly chosen three-digit

Forty children with cerebral palsy (CP) and 120 typical developing children (TD) performed a topographic working memory (WalCT) test requiring to move their body in a walked vista-space and a visuo-spatial test (CBT) requiring just reaching movements. WalCT score was significantly higher in GMFCS II/III than in TD. CBT score was significantly lower in GMFCS I than in III/IV but lower than TD in all

This study compares polyrhythmic production ability between water polo players (WPs), artistic swimmers (ASs) and drummers (Ds), to assess how their differing experiences in coordinating complex inter-limb activity with music affected this ability. Eight ASs, eight WPs and eight Ds participated. They were asked to perform finger and foot taps in a single-rhythm task (every 750 ms) and two polyrhythmic

We investigated the patterns of coordination between the left and right legs that support the task of maintaining an upright standing posture. We used cross-wavelet analyses to assess coordination between the centers of pressure under the left and right feet. We recruited participants with a lateralized functional preference for their right leg, and we manipulated whether these participants stood with

The predominant role of the primary motor cortex (M1) in motor execution is well acknowledged. However, additional roles of M1 are getting evident in humans owing to advances in noninvasive brain stimulation (NIBS) techniques. This review collates such studies in humans and proposes that M1 also plays a key role in higher cognitive processes. The review commences with the studies that have investigated

The current study examined whether young adults’ avoidance behaviours differed when circumventing a larger versus smaller interferer. It was expected that avoidance behaviours (repulsion) would be affected by the interferer’s size (i.e., greater repulsion for larger body size). Participants (n = 20) walked along an 8 m pathway towards a goal while avoiding either a larger or smaller sized male interferer

In this study, we investigated the effects of modeling type and reflection on the acquisition of dart-throwing skills, self-efficacy beliefs and self-reaction scores by conceptually replicating a study by Kitsantas, Zimmerman, and Cleary (2000). Participants observing a novice model were expected to surpass participants observing an expert model who in turn were expected to outperform participants

Motor skill acquisition utilizes a wide array of neural structures; however, few articles evaluate how the relative contributions of these structures shift over the course of learning. Recent evidence from rodents and songbirds suggests there is a transfer from cortical to subcortical structures following intense, repetitive training. Evidence from humans indicate that the reticulospinal system is

We examined potentially deceptive influences of the vertical-horizontal (V-H) illusion on manual length estimations. When viewing V-H illusory configurations, people perceive that the bisecting segment length exceeds the bisected segment length when segments are actually equal. Participants used downward or rightward pointing movements to manually estimate the length of a short bisecting segment of

The purpose of this study was to determine the association between corticomotor excitability (CME) of gluteus maximus (GM) and hip biomechanics during a single-leg drop-jump task. Thirty-two healthy individuals participated. The slope of the input-output curve (IOC) obtained from transcranial magnetic stimulation was used to assess CME of GM. The average hip extensor moment and peak hip flexion angle

An external focus of attention can improve performance, but there is little research on effects for the elderly in every day, well-learned mobility tasks. 57 older and 59 young adults performed the sit-to-stand and stand-to-sit while holding a cup, at three difficulty levels (cup empty or full, at normal or fast speed). Half were instructed to focus internally (on their movements) and half externally

Eye and hand movements are often made in isolation but for reaching movements they are usually coupled. Despite this, evidence for spatial coupling between the eye and hand effector is mixed and have usually been restricted to straight-line movements, while real-world hand movements have complex trajectories. Here, using a novel obstacle avoidance task where an obstacle appeared in an infrequent number

Thirteen shooters and eleven non-shooters completed two-legged and single-legged stance on a force platform. The dynamics of the center of pressure trajectory was assessed using sample entropy, correlation dimension and entropic half-life. Additionally, the body sway was quantified as the elliptical area of the trajectory. The shooters had lower sample entropy and tended to have longer entropic half-life

Our study compared the results of two methods of analysis of postural sway during human quiet standing, the rambling-trembling (Rm-Tr) decomposition and the analysis of the point of intersection of the ground reaction forces (zIP analysis). Young, healthy subjects were required to stand naturally and with an increased level of leg/trunk muscle co-activation under visual feedback on the magnitude of

Changing muscle coordination patterns is a critical part of motor learning - yet there is a lack of simple, clinically feasible techniques to alter these patterns. Here, we investigated the effects of short-term mental imagery and supplemental visual feedback on muscle coordination using a myoelectric reaching task with complex mapping of arm and hand muscles to cursor position. Forty participants

The aims of this systematic review were: to investigate the use of surface electromyography in the assessment of reaching in infants; to assess the usefulness of this tool to the assessment of reaching, and its parameters and limitations; to assess the methodological quality of the studies available in the literature. The search in the databases MEDLINE, SciELO, LILACS, Embase, PEDro, Cochrane, and

Despite its popularity, there is a lack of standardization when assessing postural control. This study aimed to suggest how many trials should be used when assessing young adults' postural control with a specific single-task and dual-task quiet stance protocol. Two groups of 15 participants performed 20 trials of 60 s (feet together, eyes open) with or without a dual-task. The number of trials needed

This study aimed to determine, among community-dwelling older adults, effects of aging on limits of stability in various directions and total area of functional base of support (FBoS) while standing. Forty-three older adults and 43 young adults maintained limits of stability in eight directions. FBoS was defined as the octagon formed by the corners made by the positions of center of pressure in the

Mental practice (MP) is a reliable alternative or complement to physical practice (PP) for the training of postural control. We address how MP should ideally be combined with PP. Participants were assigned to four experimental groups where MP/PP ratios during training varied from 0 to 100%. Performance improved only for demanding postural adjustments, regardless of MP/PP ratio, and learning was partially

Thirty-two children with overweight or obesity were randomly divided into a neuromuscular training group (NTG) (n = 16) and a control group (CG) (n = 16). All individuals participated in the measurement of static postural control under two conditions: the double-leg stance with eyes open (EO) and eyes closed (EC). The center of pressure variables was obtained. mSEBT was used for dynamic postural control

Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) over the primary motor cortex (M1) has been demonstrated to modulate the motor performance of both healthy individuals and patients with neuromuscular disorders. However, the effect of tDCS on motor control of multiple muscles, which is a prerequisite to change in motor performance, is currently unknown. Using dimensionality reduction analysis, we investigated

Pursuit and interception of moving targets are fundamental skills of many animal species. Although previous studies in human interception behaviors have proposed several navigational strategies for intercepting a moving target, it is still unknown which navigational strategy humans use in chase-and-escape interactions. In the present experimental study, by using two one-on-one tasks as seen in ball

The links between music and human movement have been shown to provide insight into crucial aspects of human's perception, cognition, and sensorimotor systems. In this study, we examined the influence of music on movement during standstill, aiming at further characterizing the correspondences between movement, music, and perception, by analyzing head sway fractality. Eighty seven participants were asked

Early aiming adjustments following an online perturbation are made possible by impulse control. This process may unfold even earlier when perturbations impose a greater risk of a costly overshoot error. Participants executed upward and downward aims to mediate the cost of potential errors-downward overshoots require more energy to correct against gravity. On 33% of the trials, texture elements on the

The objective of this study was to examine the effects of muscle strength training on knee kinematics/kinetics and muscle activation patterns during anticipated side-step cutting. Three-dimensional knee kinematics/kinetics data and muscle activation of selected lower extremity muscles were measured while performing cutting before and after completing 10-week circuit strength training mixed typical

Behavioral studies consistently find that subjects move their hand along straight paths despite considerations that suggest reaches should be curved. Literature on this topic makes it clear that the experimentally displayed feedback influences how subjects reach. Could the standard visual feedback, a displayed cursor, explain the lack of path curvature in experimental results? To address this question

We investigated whether bilateral lower-limb control and leg dominance affect force control ability in 15 healthy young adults (9 males and 6 females, age =26.8 ± 4.1 years). Participants performed isometric ankle dorsiflexion force control tasks, matching a visual target (10% of maximal effort) as quickly and precisely as possible in ballistic and tonic tasks. Performance was evaluated using force

Backward walking (BW) has been extensively used in athletic training and orthopedic rehabilitation as it may have value for enhancing balance. This study identified the differences in foot intersegment kinematics (forward walking (FW) vs. time-reversed BW) and plantar pressure parameters of 16 healthy habitually shod individuals walking FW and BW using flexible shoes (SH) and under barefoot conditions

To evaluate whether frequent interactive tablet-use at preschool age is associated with improved fine motor skills and to describe tablet-use in young children. Cross-sectional study with 78 children, aged 24-42 months: group 1 with previous frequent tablet-use exposure (n = 26), group 2 without previous tablet-use exposure (n = 52). Fine motor skills were evaluated with the Bayley-III. Socioeconomic

The continuous pointing task uses target-directed pointing responses to determine how perceived distance traveled is estimated during forward linear walking movements. To more precisely examine the regulation of this online process, the current study measured upper extremity joint angles and step-cycle kinematics in full vision and no-vision continuous pointing movements. Results show perceptual under-estimation

Theories on motor skill acquisition predict that earlier learning stages require more attention, which should lead to higher cognitive-motor dual-task interference in novices as compared to experts. Expert and novice table tennis players returned balls from a ball machine while concurrently performing an auditory 3-back task (working memory). The groups did not differ in 3-back performance in the single

The aim was to assess dual- versus single-task training for motor performance and cognitive performance in adolescents. Two experiments were performed. In the first, 30 adolescents were randomized to three groups to determine the effect of dual-task difficulty on postural control: α-scaling and root mean square (RMS). In the second, 20 adolescents were randomized to two groups to determine the effect

Our study aimed to analyze movement control strategies using predefined criteria for amplitude and differences in these strategies between children with and without DCD. Children with (n = 28) and without DCD (n = 15) were included. A video-observation-tool was used to score the moving body parts during a Wii Fit slalom task over multiple time points. Two-step cluster analysis was used to extract distinct

Research suggests that an external focus or cognitive task may improve postural control. Removing attention from movement production may promote automaticity, or the tasks may promote ankle stiffening. To investigate these two theories, twenty older adults stood while performing baseline standing, internal focus, external focus, and two cognitive tasks. Changes in postural control occurred in external

Reaching movements generate reaction forces that affect postural stability, requiring sophisticated coordination between body and arm movement to maintain balance. In voluntary movement, this coordination involves feedforward shifts of posture, and such anticipatory postural muscle activity also accompanies the rapid modulation of an ongoing point to suddenly a shifting target (double-step). However

These hypotheses were tested: (1) Freely chosen frequency in unilateral index finger tapping is correlated between the two index fingers, and (2) A 3-min bout of unilateral index finger tapping followed by 10 min rest results in an increase of the freely chosen tapping frequency performed by the contralateral index finger in a second bout. Thirty-two adults participated. Freely chosen tapping frequencies

In the present study we investigated how attention contributes to the interaction between reach planning and execution, and postural control. Reaching movements were generated while standing and were performed either in isolation or in conjunction with a secondary reaction time (RT) task. In addition, to better understand how online movement control is affected by this interaction, the reaching movements

The authors examined the relationship between the maximum recoverable lean angle via the tether-release method with early- or late-phase rate of torque development (RTD) and maximum torque of lower-limb muscle groups in 56 young healthy adults. Maximal isometric torque and RTD at the hip, knee, and ankle were recorded. The RTD at 50-ms intervals up to 250 ms from force onset was calculated. The results

Previous research suggests that using Fitts' law; attentional focus or challenge point framework (CPF) is beneficial in balance control studies. A scoping review was conducted to examine studies that utilized these motor behavior concepts during balance control tasks. An extensive literature search was performed up to January 2018. Two independent reviewers conducted a study selection process followed

Previous studies showed that motor asymmetries are reduced in left-handers and after a long-term fencing training in right-handers. Interestingly, left-handed athletes are substantially over-represented in elite fencing. These findings have been speculatively explained by imbalance in experience of fighting opposite handedness opponents resulted from skewed distribution of handedness, i.e. lefties

The present study investigates the effect of sensory deprivation of the index and middle finger on motor function of all digits during maximal voluntary force production tasks. A total of 27 subjects performed maximal isometric pressing tasks by using different instructed finger combinations. Subjects completed the same tasks in two visits: a control visit when they had normal sensory feedback in all

Patients who require neurological rehabilitation often do not comply with conventional programs because they find the therapy uninteresting. As a result, specialized interactive video games have been designed to be more enjoyable than conventional therapy (CT) tasks. This study aimed to assess the trunk control and gait ability of patients with chronic stroke after participation in driving-based interactive

The objective was to evaluate the impact of bilateral and unilateral fatigue of the plantarflexor muscles on blind navigation. Thirty-eight young adults walked 8-m without vision before fatigue (pre-fatigue), then fatigued either one or both of their plantarflexor muscles by performing isometric contractions. After each fatigue, two blind navigation trials were performed (post-fatigue trials 1 and

Reaching to targets in a virtual reality environment with misaligned visual feedback of the hand results in changes in movements (visuomotor adaptation) and sense of felt hand position (proprioceptive recalibration). We asked if proprioceptive recalibration arises even when the misalignment between visual and proprioceptive estimates of hand position is only experienced during movement. Participants