Developmental profile of slow hand movement oscillation coupling in humans

The effect of inherent and incidental constraints on bimanual force control in simulated Martian gravity

The ability to coordinate actions between the limbs is important for many operationally relevant tasks associated with space exploration. A future milestone in space exploration is sending humans to Mars. Therefore, an experiment was designed to examine the influence of inherent and incidental constraints on the stability characteristics associated with the bimanual control of force in simulated Martian gravity. A head-up tilt (HUT)/head-down tilt (HDT) paradigm was used to simulate gravity on Mars (22.3° HUT). Right limb dominant participants (N = 11) were required to rhythmically coordinate patterns of isometric forces in 1:1 in-phase and 1:2 multifrequency patterns by exerting force with their right and left limbs. Lissajous displays were provided to guide task performance. Participants performed 14 twenty-second practice trials at 90° HUT (Earth). Following a 30-min rest period, participants performed 2 test trials for each coordination pattern in both Earth and Mars conditions. Performance during the test trials were compared. Results indicated very effective temporal performance of the goal coordination tasks in both gravity conditions. However, results indicated differences associated with the production of force between Earth and Mars. In general, participants produced less force in simulated Martian gravity than in the Earth condition. In addition, force production was more harmonic in Martian gravity than Earth gravity for both limbs, indicating that less force distortions (adjustments, hesitations, and/or perturbations) occurred in the Mars condition than in the Earth condition. The force coherence analysis indicated significantly higher coherence in the 1:1 task than in the 1:2 task for all force frequency bands, with the highest level of coherence in the 1-4 Hz frequency band for both gravity conditions. High coherence in the 1-4 Hz frequency band is associated with a common neural drive that activates the two arms simultaneously and is consistent with the requirements of the two tasks. The results also support the notion that neural crosstalk stabilizes the performance of the 1:1 in-phase task. In addition, significantly higher coherence in the 8-12 Hz frequency bands were observed for the Earth condition than the Mars condition. Force coherence in the 8-12 Hz bands is associated with the processing of sensorimotor information, suggesting that participants were better at integrating visual, proprioceptive, and/or tactile feedback in Earth than for the Mars condition. Overall, the results indicate less neural interference in Martian gravity; however, participants appear to be more effective at using the Lissajous displays to guide performance under Earth's gravity.

Movement induced tremor in musicians and non-musicians reflects adaptive brain plasticity

Evidence exists that motor dexterity is associated with a higher tremor amplitude of physiological tremor. Likewise, lower frequencies are associated with motor control. So far only case reports of a higher amplitude of physiological tremor in musicians exist. Moreover, no study has investigated lower frequencies during a finger movement task in musicians who can be regarded as a model of motor expertise. We developed a model and derived three hypotheses which we investigated in this study: (1) Tremor amplitude is higher in the range of physiological tremor and (2) higher for frequency ranges of dystonic tremor in musicians compared to non-musicians; (3) there is no difference in tremor amplitude at frequencies below 4 Hz. We measured tremor during a finger flexion-extension movement in 19 musicians (age 26.5 ± 8.2 years) and 24 age matched non-musicians (age 26.5 ± 8.7). By using empirical mode decomposition in combination with a Hilbert transform we obtained the instantaneous frequency and amplitude, allowing to compare tremor amplitudes throughout the movement at various frequency ranges. We found a significantly higher tremor amplitude in musicians for physiological tremor and a tendency toward a higher amplitude during most of the movement in the frequency range of 4-8 Hz, which, however, was not significant. No difference was found in the frequency range below 4 Hz for the flexion and for almost the entire extension movement. Our results corroborate findings that the 8-12 Hz oscillatory activity plays a role in motor dexterity. However, our results do not allow for the conclusion that tremor at the frequency range of 4-8 Hz is related to either plasticity induced changes that are beneficial for motor skill development nor to maladaptive changes as, e.g., focal dystonia.

Discontinuities in slow finger movements in patients with Parkinson's disease

Slow finger movements in healthy humans are characterized by discontinuous rhythmic changes in a low frequency band about 8 Hz. These pulsatile changes in velocity are thought to present the central output of an oscillatory cerebello-thalamo-cortical network in the same frequency. Hypothesizing that patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) in the dopaminergic OFF- and ON-condition show changes in the characteristics of discontinuities compared to healthy humans, we used a 3D-ultrasound device to measure slow finger movements of 16 patients with PD and 12 age-matched controls. We provide evidence that slow finger movements of patients with PD are characterized by discontinuities in acceleration, which are significantly slower in the OFF- but not in the ON-condition compared to healthy controls. Correlation analysis between clinical motor improvement after dopaminergic medication and changes of peak frequencies and peak power of discontinuities was not significant. We conclude that the oscillatory brain network of slow finger movements is affected in PD, presenting in a lower frequency in the OFF-condition. We suggest that one factor of the modulation of this network is a dopaminergic stimulation.

A dominant role for mechanical resonance in physiological finger tremor revealed by selective minimization of voluntary drive and movement

There is a debate in the literature about whether the low- and high-frequency peaks of physiological finger tremor are caused by resonance or central drive. One way to address this issue is to examine the consequences of eliminating, as far as possible, the resonant properties or the voluntary drive. To study the effect of minimizing resonance, finger tremor was recorded under isometric conditions and compared with normal isotonic tremor. To minimize central drive, finger tremor was generated artificially by broad-band electrical stimulation. When resonance was minimized, tremor size declined almost monotonically with increasing frequency. There was no consistent large peak at a frequency characteristic of tremor. Although there was sometimes a peak around the tremor frequency during some isometric conditions, it was extremely small and variable; therefore, any contribution of central drive was minimal. In contrast, there was always a prominent peak in the isotonic frequency spectra. Resonance was, therefore, necessary to produce the characteristic tremor peaks. When central drive was minimized by replacing voluntary muscle activation with artificial stimulation, a realistic tremor spectrum was observed. Central drive is, therefore, not required to generate a characteristic physiological tremor spectrum. In addition, regardless of the nature of the driving input (voluntary or artificial), increasing the size of the input considerably reduced isotonic tremor frequency. We attribute the frequency reduction to a movement-related thixotropic change in muscle stiffness. From these results we conclude that physiological finger tremor across a large range of frequencies is produced by natural broad-band forcing of a nonlinear resonant system, and that synchronous central input is not required.

Failure of normal development of central drive to ankle dorsiflexors relates to gait deficits in children with cerebral palsy

Neurophysiological markers of the central control of gait in children with cerebral palsy (CP) are used to assess developmental response to therapy. We measured the central common drive to a leg muscle in children with CP. We recorded electromyograms (EMGs) from the tibialis anterior (TA) muscle of 40 children with hemiplegic CP and 42 typically developing age-matched controls during static dorsiflexion of the ankle and during the swing phase of treadmill walking. The common drive to TA motoneurons was identified through time- and frequency-domain cross-correlation methods. In control subjects, the common drive consists of frequencies between 1 and 60 Hz with peaks at beta (15–25 Hz) and gamma (30–45 Hz) frequencies known to be caused by activity within sensorimotor cortex networks: this drive to motoneurons strengthens during childhood. Similar to this drive in control subjects, this drive to the least affected TA in the CP children tended to strengthen with age, although compared with that in the control subjects, it was slightly weaker. For CP subjects of all ages, the most affected TA muscle common drive was markedly reduced compared with that of their least affected muscle as well as that of controls. These differences between the least and most affected TA muscles were unrelated to differences in the magnitude of EMG in the two muscles but positively correlated with ankle dorsiflexion velocity and joint angle during gait. Time- and frequency-domain analysis of ongoing EMG recruited during behaviorally relevant lower limb tasks provides a noninvasive and important measure of the central drive to motoneurons in subjects with CP.