Movement-related potentials and intelligence

Utilizing movement-related potentials to monitor cognitive rehabilitation in individuals with central nervous system disorders: A review

In current neuroscience, there is a pressing need to evaluate the effectiveness of treatments for motor and cognitive disorders. In addition, there is a gap in the literature on assessing this type of rehabilitation. This review proposes using Movement-Related Potentials (MRPs) as a relevant marker for such evaluations. The method employed involves administering a psychomotor task known as the Skilled Performance Task (SPT). Originally described in 1980 by Papakostopoulos, the SPT requires specific abilities, such as bimanual coordination, adaptive programming, and precise timing. Subjects must start and stop a sweep on an oscilloscope screen with accurate timing, receiving immediate feedback that aids in performance improvement. This self-paced, goal-directed, and interactive task ensures continuous engagement and learning. Suitable for all ages, the SPT provides real-time feedback and demands constant attention and reprogramming of movements, making it an effective tool for assessing and promoting cognitive rehabilitation through neuroplasticity. The originality of this task lies in the ability to obtain, with a single motor act, a series of potentials that represent different stages of the processing of a goal-directed and self-initiated action. The MRPs associated with this task are the Bereitschaftspotential (BP), the Motor Cortex Potential (MCP), the N100, the P200, the Skilled Performance Positivity (SPP) and the Post-Action Negativity (PAN). The present study reinterprets previous research conducted on children and adults with various central nervous system pathologies, from a cognitive rehabilitation perspective, to provide new insights into neurorehabilitation techniques utilizing MRPs.

Libet's legacy: A primer to the neuroscience of volition

The neuroscience of volition is an emerging subfield of the brain sciences, with hundreds of papers on the role of consciousness in action formation published each year. This makes the state-of-the-art in the discipline poorly accessible to newcomers and difficult to follow even for experts in the field. Here we provide a comprehensive summary of research in this field since its inception that will be useful to both groups. We also discuss important ideas that have received little coverage in the literature so far. We systematically reviewed a set of 2220 publications, with detailed consideration of almost 500 of the most relevant papers. We provide a thorough introduction to the seminal work of Benjamin Libet from the 1960s to 1980s. We also discuss common criticisms of Libet's method, including temporal introspection, the interpretation of the assumed physiological correlates of volition, and various conceptual issues. We conclude with recent advances and potential future directions in the field, highlighting modern methodological approaches to volition, as well as important recent findings.

The psychophysiology of "covert" goal-directed behavior

Covert behavior is defined as behavior that is not directly visible and is thus comparable to a type of behavioral silence that requires modern psychophysiological techniques to reveal. Goal-directed behavior is teleologically purposive. Fundamentally, there are two approaches to accounting for purposeful behavior. One is the cybernetic approach, which views behavior as homeostatic and largely reflexive. The other one views behavior as a cognitive process that involves an interaction between neural events representing the previous experience, the present state of the individual, and the occurrence of particular features in the environment. This review, based on published data, presents a non-invasive psychophysiological method for investigating the electrical brain activity associated with those "silent" behaviors such as intention, evaluation of results, and memorization. Movement-related potentials (MRPs) are ideal for studying these processes. The MRPs are recorded during the execution of the skilled performance task (SPT). This task requires the execution of fast ballistic movements with the thumbs of both hands, learning a precise and short time interval between the two thumb presses, and scoring the highest number of target performances. The subject receives real-time feedback about the results of his performance. The MRPs associated with this task and present during covert behavior are the Bereitschaftspotential (BP) present before the onset of movement and the Skilled Performance Positivity (SPP) after movement, which coincides with the subject's awareness of the success or failure of his performance. These potentials show a maturational trend, reaching the adult form around the age of 10 when formal and abstract thinking progress. SPT and MRPs are particularly suitable to study neurodevelopmental disorders. Children with developmental dyslexia show abnormal MRPs, both in latency and amplitude, in different brain areas.