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Verwey WB. C-SMB 2.0: Integrating over 25 years of motor sequencing research with the Discrete Sequence Production task. Psychon Bull Rev 2023:10.3758/s13423-023-02377-0. [PMID: 37848660 DOI: 10.3758/s13423-023-02377-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 08/30/2023] [Indexed: 10/19/2023]
Abstract
An exhaustive review is reported of over 25 years of research with the Discrete Sequence Production (DSP) task as reported in well over 100 articles. In line with the increasing call for theory development, this culminates into proposing the second version of the Cognitive framework of Sequential Motor Behavior (C-SMB 2.0), which brings together known models from cognitive psychology, cognitive neuroscience, and motor learning. This processing framework accounts for the many different behavioral results obtained with the DSP task and unveils important properties of the cognitive system. C-SMB 2.0 assumes that a versatile central processor (CP) develops multimodal, central-symbolic representations of short motor segments by repeatedly storing the elements of these segments in short-term memory (STM). Independently, the repeated processing by modality-specific perceptual and motor processors (PPs and MPs) and by the CP when executing sequences gradually associates successively used representations at each processing level. The high dependency of these representations on active context information allows for the rapid serial activation of the sequence elements as well as for the executive control of tasks as a whole. Speculations are eventually offered as to how the various cognitive processes could plausibly find their neural underpinnings within the intricate networks of the brain.
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Affiliation(s)
- Willem B Verwey
- Department of Learning, Data-Analytics and Technology, Section Cognition, Data and Education, Faculty of Behavioral, Management and Social sciences, University of Twente, PO Box 217, 7500 AE, Enschede, the Netherlands.
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2
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Huang Y, Eden J, Ivanova E, Burdet E. Can Training Make Three Arms Better Than Two Heads for Trimanual Coordination? IEEE OPEN JOURNAL OF ENGINEERING IN MEDICINE AND BIOLOGY 2023; 4:148-155. [PMID: 38274776 PMCID: PMC10810309 DOI: 10.1109/ojemb.2023.3305808] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/05/2023] [Revised: 06/05/2023] [Accepted: 08/08/2023] [Indexed: 01/27/2024] Open
Abstract
Supernumerary effectors have been proposed to enable users to perform tasks alone that normally require assistance from a partner. While various supernumerary robotic limbs have been developed in the last decade, the capability of users to operate them effectively has not yet been proven. Here we tested whether users (i) can complete a task that requires simultaneous and fine control of three effectors, and (ii) can be trained to do so with similar or superior performance as through collaboration with a human partner. As in previous studies, initial augmented capability was less than that of working with a partner. However, one hour of dedicated solo trimanual training across three days significantly increased task performance, so that participants became able to perform trimanual control alone as well as or better than they could with a new partner. This shows the viability of augmentation systems for applications such as in robotic surgery or industrial assembly, which can be further validated on real tasks with physical systems.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yanpei Huang
- Department of BioengineeringImperial College of Science Technology, MedicineSW7 2BXLondonU.K.
| | - Jonathan Eden
- Department of BioengineeringImperial College of Science Technology, MedicineSW7 2BXLondonU.K.
- Department of Mechanical EngineeringUniversity of MelbourneParkvilleVIC3052Australia
| | - Ekaterina Ivanova
- Department of BioengineeringImperial College of Science Technology, MedicineSW7 2BXLondonU.K.
- School of Electronic Engineering, Computer ScienceQueen Mary University of LondonE1 4NSLondonU.K.
| | - Etienne Burdet
- Department of BioengineeringImperial College of Science Technology, MedicineSW7 2BXLondonU.K.
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3
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Popp NJ, Hernandez-Castillo CR, Gribble PL, Diedrichsen J. The role of feedback in the production of skilled finger sequences. J Neurophysiol 2022; 127:829-839. [PMID: 35235441 PMCID: PMC8957329 DOI: 10.1152/jn.00319.2021] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/11/2021] [Revised: 02/28/2022] [Accepted: 03/01/2022] [Indexed: 11/22/2022] Open
Abstract
Actions involving fine control of the hand, for example, grasping an object, rely heavily on sensory information from the fingertips. Although the integration of feedback during the execution of individual movements is well understood, less is known about the use of sensory feedback in the control of skilled movement sequences. To address this gap, we trained participants to produce sequences of finger movements on a keyboard-like device over a 4-day training period. Participants received haptic, visual, and auditory feedback indicating the occurrence of each finger press. We then either transiently delayed or advanced the feedback for a single press by a small amount of time (30 or 60 ms). We observed that participants rapidly adjusted their ongoing finger press by either accelerating or prolonging the ongoing press, in accordance with the direction of the perturbation. Furthermore, we could show that this rapid behavioral modulation was driven by haptic feedback. Although these feedback-driven adjustments reduced in size with practice, they were still clearly present at the end of training. In contrast to the directionally specific effect we observed on the perturbed press, a feedback perturbation resulted in a delayed onset of the subsequent presses irrespective of perturbation direction or feedback modality. This observation is consistent with a hierarchical organization of even very skilled and fast movement sequences, with different levels reacting distinctly to sensory perturbations.NEW & NOTEWORTHY Sensory feedback is important during the execution of a movement. However, little is known about how sensory feedback is used during the production of movement sequences. Here, we show two distinct feedback processes in the execution of fast finger movement sequences. By transiently delaying or advancing the feedback of a single press within a sequence, we observed a directionally specific effect on the perturbed press and a directionally non-specific effect on the subsequent presses.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nicola J Popp
- The Brain and Mind Institute, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada
| | | | - Paul L Gribble
- The Brain and Mind Institute, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada
- Department of Psychology, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada
- Department of Physiology & Pharmacology, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada
- Haskins Laboratories, New Haven, Connecticut
| | - Jörn Diedrichsen
- The Brain and Mind Institute, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada
- Department of Statistical and Actuarial Sciences, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada
- Department of Computer Science, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada
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4
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Handedness Development: A Model for Investigating the Development of Hemispheric Specialization and Interhemispheric Coordination. Symmetry (Basel) 2021. [DOI: 10.3390/sym13060992] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/08/2023] Open
Abstract
The author presents his perspective on the character of science, development, and handedness and relates these to his investigations of the early development of handedness. After presenting some ideas on what hemispheric specialization of function might mean for neural processing and how handedness should be assessed, the neuroscience of control of the arms/hands and interhemispheric communication and coordination are examined for how developmental processes can affect these mechanisms. The author’s work on the development of early handedness is reviewed and placed within a context of cascading events in which different forms of handedness emerge from earlier forms but not in a deterministic manner. This approach supports a continuous rather than categorical distribution of handedness and accounts for the predominance of right-handedness while maintaining a minority of left-handedness. Finally, the relation of the development of handedness to the development of several language and cognitive skills is examined.
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5
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Ranganathan R, Tomlinson AD, Lokesh R, Lin TH, Patel P. A tale of too many tasks: task fragmentation in motor learning and a call for model task paradigms. Exp Brain Res 2020; 239:1-19. [PMID: 33170341 DOI: 10.1007/s00221-020-05908-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/31/2020] [Accepted: 08/17/2020] [Indexed: 12/28/2022]
Abstract
Motor learning encompasses a broad set of phenomena that requires a diverse set of experimental paradigms. However, excessive variation in tasks across studies creates fragmentation that can adversely affect the collective advancement of knowledge. Here, we show that motor learning studies tend toward extreme fragmentation in the choice of tasks, with almost no overlap between task paradigms across studies. We argue that this extreme level of task fragmentation poses serious theoretical and methodological barriers to advancing the field. To address these barriers, we propose the need for developing common 'model' task paradigms which could be widely used across labs. Combined with the open sharing of methods and data, we suggest that these model task paradigms could be an important step in increasing the robustness of the motor learning literature and facilitate the cumulative process of science.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rajiv Ranganathan
- Department of Kinesiology, Michigan State University, 308 W Circle Dr, East Lansing, MI, 48824, USA.
| | - Aimee D Tomlinson
- Department of Kinesiology, Michigan State University, 308 W Circle Dr, East Lansing, MI, 48824, USA
| | - Rakshith Lokesh
- Department of Kinesiology, Michigan State University, 308 W Circle Dr, East Lansing, MI, 48824, USA
| | - Tzu-Hsiang Lin
- Department of Kinesiology, Michigan State University, 308 W Circle Dr, East Lansing, MI, 48824, USA
| | - Priya Patel
- Department of Kinesiology, Michigan State University, 308 W Circle Dr, East Lansing, MI, 48824, USA
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6
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Popp NJ, Yokoi A, Gribble PL, Diedrichsen J. The effect of instruction on motor skill learning. J Neurophysiol 2020; 124:1449-1457. [PMID: 32997556 DOI: 10.1152/jn.00271.2020] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/22/2022] Open
Abstract
Many motor skills are learned with the help of instructions. In the context of complex motor sequences, instructions often break down the movement into chunks that can then be practiced in isolation. Thus, instructions shape an initial cognitive representation of the skill, which in turn guides practice. Are there ways of breaking up a motor sequence that are better than others? If participants are instructed in a way that hinders performance, how much practice does it take to overcome the influence of the instruction? To answer these questions, we used a paradigm in which participants were asked to perform finger sequences as fast and accurately as possible on a keyboard-like device. In the initial phases of training, participants had to explicitly remember and practice two- or three-digit chunks. These chunks were then combined to form seven 11-digit sequences that participants practiced for the remainder of the study. Each sequence was broken up into chunks in a way such that the instruction was either aligned or misaligned with the basic execution-level constraints. We found that misaligned chunk instruction led to an initial performance deficit compared with the aligned chunk instruction. Overall, instructions still influenced the temporal pattern of performance after 10 days of subsequent training, with shorter interpress intervals within a chunk compared with between chunks. However, for the misaligned instructed sequences, this temporal pattern was altered more rapidly, such that participants could overcome the induced performance deficit in the last week. At the end of training, participants found idiosyncratic, but interindividually stable, ways of performing each sequence.NEW & NOTEWORTHY Instructions often break down motor sequences into smaller parts, such that they can be more easily remembered. Here, we show that different ways of breaking down a finger sequence can subsequently lead to better or worse performance. The initial instruction still influenced the temporal performance pattern after 10 days of practice. The results demonstrate that the initial cognitive representation of a motor skill strongly influences how a skill is learned and performed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nicola J Popp
- The Brain and Mind Institute, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada
| | - Atsushi Yokoi
- Graduate School of Frontier Biosciences, Osaka University, Osaka, Japan.,Center for Information and Neural Networks (CiNet), NICT, Osaka, Japan
| | - Paul L Gribble
- The Brain and Mind Institute, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada.,Department of Psychology, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada.,Department of Physiology & Pharmacology, Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada.,Haskins Laboratories, New Haven, Connecticut
| | - Jörn Diedrichsen
- The Brain and Mind Institute, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada.,Department of Statistical and Actuarial Sciences, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada.,Department of Computer Science, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada
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Hand Knob Area of Premotor Cortex Represents the Whole Body in a Compositional Way. Cell 2020; 181:396-409.e26. [PMID: 32220308 DOI: 10.1016/j.cell.2020.02.043] [Citation(s) in RCA: 67] [Impact Index Per Article: 16.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/24/2019] [Revised: 10/12/2019] [Accepted: 02/18/2020] [Indexed: 02/08/2023]
Abstract
Decades after the motor homunculus was first proposed, it is still unknown how different body parts are intermixed and interrelated in human motor cortical areas at single-neuron resolution. Using multi-unit recordings, we studied how face, head, arm, and leg movements are represented in the hand knob area of premotor cortex (precentral gyrus) in people with tetraplegia. Contrary to traditional expectations, we found strong representation of all movements and a partially "compositional" neural code that linked together all four limbs. The code consisted of (1) a limb-coding component representing the limb to be moved and (2) a movement-coding component where analogous movements from each limb (e.g., hand grasp and toe curl) were represented similarly. Compositional coding might facilitate skill transfer across limbs, and it provides a useful framework for thinking about how the motor system constructs movement. Finally, we leveraged these results to create a whole-body intracortical brain-computer interface that spreads targets across all limbs.
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8
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van Vugt FT, Altenmüller E. On the One Hand or on the Other: Trade-Off in Timing Precision in Bimanual Musical Scale Playing. Adv Cogn Psychol 2020; 15:216-227. [PMID: 32190132 PMCID: PMC6737297 DOI: 10.5709/acp-0271-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/20/2022] Open
Abstract
Music performance requires simultaneously producing challenging movement sequences with the left and right hand. A key question in bimanual motor control research is whether bimanual movements are produced by combining unimanual controllers or through a dedicated bimanual controller. Here, 34 expert pianists performed musical scale playing movements with the left or right hand alone and with both hands simultaneously. We found that for the left hand, scale playing was more variable when playing with both hands simultaneously rather than with one hand at a time, but for the right hand, performance was identical. This indicates that when task constraints are high, musicians prioritize timing accuracy in the right hand at the cost of detriment of performance in the left hand. We also found that individual differences in timing substantially overlap between the unimanual and bimanual condition, suggesting control policies are similar but not identical when playing with two hands or one. In the bimanual condition, the left-hand keystrokes tended to occur before right-hand ones, and more so when the hands were further apart. Performance of the two hands was furthermore coupled so that they tended to be early and late together, especially in the beginning and end of each scale. This suggests that experts are able to achieve tightly coupled timing of scale playing movements between the hands. Taken together, these findings show evidence for partially overlapping and partially separate controllers for bimanual and unimanual movements in piano playing.
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Affiliation(s)
- Floris Tijmen van Vugt
- Department of Psychology, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada1
- Haskins Laboratories Inc., New Haven, Connecticut, United States2
| | - Eckart Altenmüller
- Hannover University of Music Drama and Media, Institute of Music Physiology, Hannover, Niedersachsen, Germany3
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9
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Yokoi A, Diedrichsen J. Neural Organization of Hierarchical Motor Sequence Representations in the Human Neocortex. Neuron 2019; 103:1178-1190.e7. [PMID: 31345643 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuron.2019.06.017] [Citation(s) in RCA: 50] [Impact Index Per Article: 10.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/17/2018] [Revised: 03/18/2019] [Accepted: 06/21/2019] [Indexed: 12/15/2022]
Abstract
Although it is widely accepted that the brain represents movement sequences hierarchically, the neural implementation of this organization is still poorly understood. To address this issue, we experimentally manipulated how participants represented sequences of finger presses at the levels of individual movements, chunks, and entire sequences. Using representational fMRI analyses, we then examined how this hierarchical structure was reflected in the fine-grained brain activity patterns of the participants while they performed the 8 trained sequences. We found clear evidence of each level of the movement hierarchy at the representational level. However, anatomically, chunk and sequence representations substantially overlapped in the premotor and parietal cortices, whereas individual movements were uniquely represented in the primary motor cortex. The findings challenge the common hypothesis of an orderly anatomical separation of different levels of an action hierarchy and argue for a special status of the distinction between individual movements and sequential context.
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Affiliation(s)
- Atsushi Yokoi
- Center for Information and Neural Networks, National Institute of Information and Communications Technology, Suita, Osaka 565-0871, Japan; The Brain and Mind Institute, University of Western Ontario, London, ON N6A 5B7, Canada; Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, University College London, London, WC1N 3AZ, UK.
| | - Jörn Diedrichsen
- The Brain and Mind Institute, University of Western Ontario, London, ON N6A 5B7, Canada; Department of Statistical and Actuarial Sciences, University of Western Ontario, London, ON N6A 5B7, Canada; Department of Computer Science, University of Western Ontario, London, ON N6A 5B7, Canada; Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, University College London, London, WC1N 3AZ, UK
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10
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Ariani G, Diedrichsen J. Sequence learning is driven by improvements in motor planning. J Neurophysiol 2019; 121:2088-2100. [PMID: 30969809 DOI: 10.1152/jn.00041.2019] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/22/2022] Open
Abstract
The ability to perform complex sequences of movements quickly and accurately is critical for many motor skills. Although training improves performance in a large variety of motor sequence tasks, the precise mechanisms behind such improvements are poorly understood. Here we investigated the contribution of single-action selection, sequence preplanning, online planning, and motor execution to performance in a discrete sequence production task. Five visually presented numbers cued a sequence of five finger presses, which had to be executed as quickly and accurately as possible. To study how sequence planning influenced sequence production, we manipulated the amount of time that participants were given to prepare each sequence by using a forced-response paradigm. Over 4 days, participants were trained on 10 sequences and tested on 80 novel sequences. Our results revealed that participants became faster in selecting individual finger presses. They also preplanned three or four sequence items into the future, and the speed of preplanning improved for trained, but not for untrained, sequences. Because preplanning capacity remained limited, the remaining sequence elements had to be planned online during sequence execution, a process that also improved with sequence-specific training. Overall, our results support the view that motor sequence learning effects are best characterized by improvements in planning processes that occur both before and concurrently with motor execution. NEW & NOTEWORTHY Complex skills often require the production of sequential movements. Although practice improves performance, it remains unclear how these improvements are achieved. Our findings show that learning effects in a sequence production task can be attributed to an enhanced ability to plan upcoming movements. These results shed new light on planning processes in the context of movement sequences and have important implications for our understanding of the neural mechanisms that underlie skill acquisition.
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Affiliation(s)
- Giacomo Ariani
- The Brain and Mind Institute, Western University , London, Ontario , Canada.,Department of Computer Science, Western University , London, Ontario , Canada
| | - Jörn Diedrichsen
- The Brain and Mind Institute, Western University , London, Ontario , Canada.,Department of Computer Science, Western University , London, Ontario , Canada.,Department of Statistical and Actuarial Sciences, Western University , London, Ontario , Canada
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12
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Sombric CJ, Calvert JS, Torres-Oviedo G. Large Propulsion Demands Increase Locomotor Adaptation at the Expense of Step Length Symmetry. Front Physiol 2019; 10:60. [PMID: 30800072 PMCID: PMC6376174 DOI: 10.3389/fphys.2019.00060] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/23/2018] [Accepted: 01/18/2019] [Indexed: 11/23/2022] Open
Abstract
There is an interest to identify factors facilitating locomotor adaptation induced by split-belt walking (i.e., legs moving at different speeds) because of its clinical potential. We hypothesized that augmenting braking forces, rather than propulsion forces, experienced at the feet would increase locomotor adaptation during and after split-belt walking. To test this, forces were modulated during split-belt walking with distinct slopes: incline (larger propulsion than braking), decline (larger braking than propulsion), and flat (similar propulsion and braking). Step length asymmetry was compared between groups because it is a clinically relevant measure robustly adapted on split-belt treadmills. Unexpectedly, the group with larger propulsion demands (i.e., the incline group) changed their gait the most during adaptation, reached their final adapted state more quickly, and had larger after-effects when the split-belt perturbation was removed. We also found that subjects who experienced larger disruptions of propulsion forces in early adaptation exhibited greater after-effects, which further highlights the catalytic role of propulsion forces on locomotor adaptation. The relevance of mechanical demands on shaping our movements was also indicated by the steady state split-belt behavior, during which each group recovered their baseline leg orientation to meet leg-specific force demands at the expense of step length symmetry. Notably, the flat group was nearly symmetric, whereas the incline and decline group overshot and undershot step length symmetry, respectively. Taken together, our results indicate that forces propelling the body facilitate gait changes during and after split-belt walking. Therefore, the particular propulsion demands to walk on a split-belt treadmill might explain the gait symmetry improvements in hemiparetic gait following split-belt training.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Gelsy Torres-Oviedo
- Sensorimotor Learning Laboratory, Department of Bioengineering, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, United States
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Andersen KW, Siebner HR. Mapping dexterity and handedness: recent insights and future challenges. Curr Opin Behav Sci 2018. [DOI: 10.1016/j.cobeha.2017.12.020] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/27/2022]
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