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Externally cued inphase bimanual training enhances preparatory premotor activity
Alison L Smith1, W Richard Staines
1Department of Kinesiology, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Canada.
Summary
Visually-cued bimanual movement training (BMT) enhances motor preparation potentials. Early movement-related potentials (MRP) and Bereitschaftspotential (BP) originate from distinct brain areas, suggesting independent modulation by training.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Motor Control
- Rehabilitation
Background:
- Previous research indicates that visually-cued bimanual movement training (BMT) enhances cortical potentials related to motor preparation.
- The specific neuroanatomical sources responsible for these rapid, training-induced adaptations remained unclear.
- Understanding these sources is crucial for interpreting training effects and developing effective rehabilitation strategies.
Purpose of the Study:
- To compare the neuroanatomical generators of cortical potentials for visually-cued movements (movement-related potential, MRP) and self-paced movements (Bereitschaftspotential, BP).
- To investigate how BMT specifically modulates these different types of motor preparation potentials.
- To clarify the neural mechanisms underlying rapid, single-session training adaptations.
Main Methods:
- Electroencephalography (EEG) was used to record both cued MRP and self-paced BP in two experiments.
- Experiment one involved interspersed cued in-phase BMT with pre- and post-training self-paced unimanual trials.
- Experiment two directly compared self-paced and visually-cued movement trials to differentiate neural sources.
Main Results:
- In-phase BMT did not significantly alter the early components of the Bereitschaftspotential (BP).
- Source localization analysis identified distinct neural generators: the lateral premotor cortex for the preparatory portion of the cued MRP, and the supplementary motor area for the self-paced BP.
- These findings indicate that the early cued MRP and self-paced BP possess unique cortical origins.
Conclusions:
- The early cued movement-related potential (MRP) and self-paced Bereitschaftspotential (BP) are generated by distinct cortical areas.
- These potentials are modulated independently by specific training paradigms, such as BMT.
- These findings offer insights into rapid training adaptations and suggest potential utility of these potentials as biomarkers for rehabilitative training in stroke patients.
