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Related Experiment Videos

Afferent stimulation facilitates performance on a novel motor task.

M N McDonnell1, M C Ridding

  • 1Research Centre for Human Movement Control, School of Molecular and Biomedical Science, The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA, 5005, Australia.

Experimental Brain Research
|December 6, 2005
PubMed
Summary

Electrical stimulation of hand afferents, termed associative stimulation, enhances motor cortex excitability. This increased excitability was found to accelerate learning and improve performance on a complex sensorimotor task, the grooved pegboard test.

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Area of Science:

  • Neuroscience
  • Motor Control
  • Human Motor Learning

Background:

  • Motor cortex excitability increases with motor task training.
  • Afferent stimulation can also raise motor cortex excitability.
  • Enhanced motor cortical excitability may aid motor skill acquisition.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate if associative stimulation, which increases motor cortex excitability, facilitates performance on a complex sensorimotor task.
  • To determine the effect of associative stimulation on the learning rate of the grooved pegboard test (GPT).

Main Methods:

  • Three groups of subjects performed the grooved pegboard test (GPT).
  • One group received "associative stimulation" of hand afferents before GPT training.
  • A control group received no stimulation, and another received non-associative stimulation.

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  • Motor evoked potentials (MEPs) were measured to assess motor cortex excitability.

    • Main Results:

    • Associative stimulation increased motor cortex excitability, confirmed by enhanced motor evoked potentials (MEPs).
    • All groups improved GPT performance, but the associative stimulation group showed faster improvement.
    • A trend suggested greater overall performance improvement in the stimulated group compared to controls.

    Conclusions:

    • Increased motor cortex excitability, induced by associative stimulation, appears to facilitate the learning and performance of novel, complex sensorimotor tasks.
    • This finding supports the role of cortical excitability in motor skill acquisition.