Motor response investigation in individuals with cerebral palsy using near infrared spectroscopy: pilot study

Cerebral palsy (CP) describes a group of motor impairment syndromes secondary to genetic that may be due to acquired disorders of the developing brain. In this study, near infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) is used to investigate the prefrontal cortical activation and lateralization in response to the planning and execution of motor skills in controls and individuals with CP. The prefrontal cortex, which plays a dominant role in the planning and execution of motor skill stimulus, is noninvasively imaged using a continuous wave-based NIRS system. During the study, 7 controls (4 right-handed and 3 left-handed) and 2 individuals with CP (1 right-handed and 1 left-handed) over 18 years of age performed 30 s of a ball throwing task followed by 30 s rest in a 5-block paradigm. The optical signal acquired from the NIRS system was processed to elucidate the activation and lateralization in the prefrontal region of controls and individuals with CP. The preliminary result indicated a difference in activation between the task and rest conditions in all the participant types. Bilateral dominance was observed in the prefrontal cortex of controls in response to planning and execution of motor skill tasks, while an ipsilateral dominance was observed in individuals with CP. In conjunction, similar contralateral dominance was observed during rest periods, both in controls and individuals with CP.