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Slow Intermuscular Oscillations are Associated with Cocontraction Steadiness
Nayef E Ahmar1, Minoru Shinohara
11School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA; and 2School of Biological Sciences, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA.
Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise
|April 20, 2017
Summary
Individuals with less low-frequency neural oscillations perform steady muscle cocontraction better. A practice session did not significantly alter these oscillations or improve cocontraction performance.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Motor Control
- Biomedical Engineering
Background:
- Voluntary muscle contraction can involve low-frequency neural oscillations.
- These oscillations may impair steady cocontraction, especially when muscle activation levels are unbalanced.
- Understanding this relationship is crucial for motor control research.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the association between low-frequency neural oscillations and steady unbalanced cocontraction performance.
- To determine if practicing out-of-phase cocontraction reduces in-phase oscillations and improves cocontraction.
- To explore potential interventions for enhancing motor control.
Main Methods:
- Healthy young adults were assigned to cocontraction, contraction, or control groups.
- Participants performed steady unbalanced cocontractions before and after an intervention with surface electromyography (EMG) feedback.
- The cocontraction group practiced out-of-phase movements, while the contraction group practiced agonist contractions.
Main Results:
- Increased low-frequency EMG coherence (<3 Hz) correlated positively with cocontraction errors (MSE and variance).
- These low-frequency oscillations became more prevalent post-intervention.
- The cocontraction practice did not specifically improve cocontraction performance or reduce oscillations.
Conclusions:
- Lower levels of low-frequency neural oscillations are associated with more skillful steady cocontraction.
- A single session of out-of-phase cocontraction practice does not acutely modulate these neural oscillations.
- Findings suggest neural oscillation patterns are key factors in motor performance variability.