OBJECTIVE Motor-related cortical potentials (MRCP) often compared separated muscle activations; however, MRCP preceding combined contraction onsets and relaxation offsets of one consecutive motor task sequence remain to be elucidated. METHODS Twelve healthy males (27.92±4.33 years, 181.83±7.15 cm, 84.58±7.15 kg) performed 40 submaximal isometric right-limb wrist flexions (i.e. motor task sequ...

Abstract Study aim : The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact speed-based strategy instruction on motor sequence learning and transfer. Material methods Male participants (n = 30, 18 24 years old) were assigned one groups based instruction. Motor examined using complex dynamic arm movement task. Two sets speed control instructions completed ten blocks 100 trials in acquisition ph...

1. Previous studies in man have revealed a coupling between the regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) and the regional cerebral metabolic rate for oxygen. In normal man, increases in the regional cerebral metabolic rate for oxygen leads to proportional increases in the rCBF(34). We have measured the rCBF as an expression of the level of cortical activity simultaneously from 254 cortical regions i...

Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) has shown promise as a treatment tool, with one FDA approved use. While TMS alone is able to up- (or down-) regulate a targeted neural system, we argue that TMS applied as an adjuvant is more effective for repetitive physical, behavioral and cognitive therapies, that is, therapies which are designed to alter the network properties of neural systems throug...

Implicit learning is thought to underlie the acquisition of many skills including reading. Previous research has shown that some forms of implicit learning are reduced in individuals with dyslexia (e.g., sequence learning), whereas other forms are spared (e.g., spatial context learning). However, it has been proposed that dyslexia-related motor dysfunction may have contributed to the implicit s...

Learning of a procedural motor-skill task is known to progress through a series of unique memory stages. Performance initially improves during training, and continues to improve, without further rehearsal, across subsequent periods of sleep. Here, we investigate how this delayed sleep-dependent learning is affected when the task characteristics are varied across several degrees of difficulty, a...

KEY POINTS Participants were scanned during the untrained-hand performance of a motor sequence, intensively trained a day earlier, and also a similarly constructed but novel, untrained sequence. The superior performance levels for the trained, compared to the untrained sequence, were associated with a greater magnitude of activity within the primary motor cortex (M1), bilaterally, for the train...

Motor skill expertise developed through practice is supported by implicit learning that leads to gradually improving performance. Previous studies examining this type of learning in the lab have used perceptual-motor sequence learning tasks, such as the Serial Interception Sequence Learning (SISL) task. In the SISL task participants respond to scrolling visual cues that follow a covertly-embedd...

Motor sequence learning is known to rely on more than a single process. As the skill develops with practice, two different representations of the sequence are formed: a goal representation built under spatial allocentric coordinates and a movement representation mediated through egocentric motor coordinates. This study aimed to explore the influence of daytime sleep (nap) on consolidation of th...

To generate a coherent action sequence, it is essential to integrate all component movements beforehand, and such sequence-related information has been observed in numerous brain regions. However, this high-level sequential plan encompassing multiple motor elements in parallel ultimately must be decomposed into serial motor commands to be executed by the musculoskeletal system. In the present s...