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Updated: Jul 13, 2026

Functional Near Infrared Spectroscopy of the Sensory and Motor Brain Regions with Simultaneous Kinematic and EMG Monitoring During Motor Tasks
Published on: December 5, 2014
[Procedural memory and brain SPECT: blood flow evaluation in the cerebellum and pre-frontal cortex during a
Márcia Thereza Silva1, Roberto Piedade, Pedro Ribeiro
1Laboratório de Mapeamento Cerebral e Integração Sensório-Motora, Instituto de Psiquiatria do Rio de Janeiro, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Brasil. marciather@ig.com.br
Abstract:
The objective of the present study was to evaluate the cerebral blood flow in the cerebellar (4 sub-regions) and pre-frontal cortex, when subjects were in rest and during a motor task performance. The sample consisted of 8 healthy subjects, male or female, between 23 and 36 of age. The visuo-motor task - implicit memory - requires the subjects to navigate and swerve a graphic submarine from missiles that run on the screen. Semi-quantitative analysis with brain SPECT (99mTc-ECD) was used to evaluate regional perfusion. The results revealed an increased activity in all areas of interest during motor task. In conclusion, four sub-regions of cerebellar cortex and both pre-frontal hemispheres showed a simultaneous activation during task. Moreover, our findings suggest as seen in previous experiments that the central nervous system operates in a parallel fashion, in order to integrate sensory and motor information.

