Movement-related sensory feedback mediates the learning of a new bimanual relative phase pattern

On the basis of findings emphasizing the role of perceptual consequences in movement coordination, the authors tested the hypothesis that the learning of a new bimanual relative phase pattern would involve the matching of the movement-related sensory consequences (rather than the motor outflow commands) to the to-be-learned pattern. Two groups of participants (n = 10 in each) practiced rhythmically moving their forearms with a phase difference of 30°. In 1 group, a difference in the arms' eigenfrequencies was imposed such that synchronous generation of the left and right motor commands resulted in the required relative phase (30°), yielding incongruence between the motor commands and their sensory consequences. In the other group, the experimenter imposed no eigenfrequency difference so that the sensory consequences were congruent with the motor commands. Throughout the practice period, performance of both groups was assessed repeatedly for the congruent situation (i.e., no eigenfrequency difference). On those criterion tests, both groups performed the required pattern equally well. The authors discuss that result, which corroborated the hypothesis, from a dynamical systems perspective

Bimanual coupling effect during a proprioceptive stimulation

Circle-line drawing paradigm is used to study bimanual coupling. In the standard paradigm, subjects are asked to draw circles with one hand and lines with the other hand; the influence of the concomitant tasks results in two "elliptical" figures. Here we tested whether proprioceptive information evoked by muscle vibration inducing a proprioceptive illusion (PI) of movement at central level, was able to affect the contralateral hand drawing circles or lines. A multisite 80 Hz-muscle vibration paradigm was used to induce the illusion of circle- and line-drawing on the right hand of 15 healthy participants. During muscle vibration, subjects had to draw a congruent or an incongruent figure with the left hand. The ovalization induced by PI was compared with Real and Motor Imagery conditions, which already have proved to induce bimanual coupling. We showed that the ovalization of a perceived circle over a line drawing during PI was comparable to that observed in Real and Motor Imagery condition. This finding indicates that PI can induce bimanual coupling, and proprioceptive information can influence the motor programs of the contralateral hand

On the effects of action on visual perception & How new movement types are learned

Perception can induce effects on action. Perception of others´ actions can thus influence our own actions. However, research on how action can shape perception is sparse. In this thesis, the effects of (i) motor learning and (ii) simple movements, can influence visual perception. Furthermore, the issue of motor learning is addressed; how can new movement types be learned and do active and passively guided motor training lead to differences in successful acquisition of a new movement

Individual differences in processing resources modulate bimanual interference in pointing

Open Access via Springer compact agreement FundRef Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft Grant number SFB/TRR 135 Acknowledgements The authors would like to thank Karin Pilz for her comments on earlier versions of this manuscript. Funding Jutta Billino was supported by a Grant from the German Research Foundation, Collaborative Research Centre SFB/TRR 135: Cardinal Mechanisms of Perception. Laura Koroknai was supported by a Discovering Research in Psychology scholarship funded by the Development Trust at the University of Aberdeen.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

The Control of Amplitude and Direction in Bimanual Coordination

Spatial coordination of bimanual movements is important when performing daily activities. Whereas, older adults and individuals with Parkinson’s disease (PD) commonly show difficulties in temporally coordinating the hands in bimanual coordination tasks, the effects of aging and Parkinson’s disease on the quality of spatial coordination between the hands are unclear. Thus, the present work investigated the impact of older age and PD on the spatial interference in a bimanual task in which 48 right hand-dominant participants (16 young adults, 16 older adults and 16 individuals with PD) drew simultaneously two lines with both hands with varied movement amplitudes (3 and 6 cm) and/or directions (horizontal and vertical). The dependent variables were amplitude error of the line drawn with the right hand (A-error-R), amplitude error of the line drawn with the left hand (A-error-L), directional error of the line drawn with the right hand (D-error-R) and directional error of the line drawn with the left hand (D-error-L). The results showed that older adults were able to maintain a similar level of spatial accuracy on the dominant side as young adults, but they showed reduced spatial accuracy when using the non-dominant hand. Furthermore, advanced age altered the control of movement direction in the bimanual coordination task, but not the control of movement amplitude. These results indicate that, the effects of the use of a longer standard spatial code for movement amplitude did not change in older adults, but older age does alter the control of direction in bimanual movements. Individuals with Parkinson’s disease and older adults showed similar levels of spatial accuracy, except for the directional accuracy of the lines drawn with the dominant hand; these lines showed angles with the target direction were increased about two degree in the PD group as compared to older control group. In summary, the quality of spatial coordination declined only in part in older adults, and the decline in the quality of spatial coordination was not exacerbated in individuals with PD, indicating the divergent role of basal ganglia for the control of temporal and spatial aspects