Vivekanand Pandey Vimal, Paul DiZio, James R Lackner
{"title":"The effect of vibrotactile feedback on performance, perception and trust when balancing in different analog g-levels.","authors":"Vivekanand Pandey Vimal, Paul DiZio, James R Lackner","doi":"10.1007/s00221-025-07098-5","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-025-07098-5","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>We studied orientation-dependent vibrotactile feedback (VF) as a countermeasure to spatial disorientation (SD) in spaceflight analog environments. In Experiment 1, participants balanced themselves in a dynamic motion simulator in Earth (1-g), Martian (0.38-g), Lunar (0.166-g) and 0-g analog conditions. One group (n = 13) had VF and the Control group (n = 13) did not. As g-level decreased, attitude control and subjective confusion worsened, for both groups. An exponential model fit both groups. The Control group became significantly worse than its 1-g baseline at 0.61 to 0.23-g. Based on these model fits, the VF group performed slightly better than Controls in 1-g, significantly better between 0.82 and 0.10-g, and their performance advantage increased towards 0-g. However, both groups reported similar levels of confusion in their sense of angular position and velocity across all g-levels. The VF group reported high trust in VF cueing as g-level decreased, despite their worsening performance and subjective confusion, highlighting a dissociation between the effectiveness of VF and cognitive trust in VF. Despite its benefits during hypo-g exposures, VF did not fully restore 1-g proficiency. In Experiment 2, we assessed whether a new group (n = 13) of participants given extended exposure with VF in the Lunar analog condition would achieve 1-g level performance. Initial performance and confusion deteriorated significantly relative to 1-g but then improved significantly until 1-g baselines were restored for most measures. However, signatures of SD, including attitude drift and positional confusion were still present. These results suggest that VF potentially would enhance dynamic vehicle control in spaceflight but may not fully eliminate SD.</p>","PeriodicalId":12268,"journal":{"name":"Experimental Brain Research","volume":"243 7","pages":"161"},"PeriodicalIF":1.7,"publicationDate":"2025-05-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144191707","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
M Guardabassi, F M Botti, A Rodio, L Fattorini, G M Filippi, A Ferraresi, C Occhigrossi, V E Pettorossi
{"title":"Prolonged neck proprioceptive vibratory stimulation prevents the self-motion misperception induced by neck muscle fatigue: immediate and sustained effects.","authors":"M Guardabassi, F M Botti, A Rodio, L Fattorini, G M Filippi, A Ferraresi, C Occhigrossi, V E Pettorossi","doi":"10.1007/s00221-025-07109-5","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-025-07109-5","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>A recent study has shown that fatigue of the posterior neck muscles, induced by prolonged isometric contractions, causes self-motion misperception. The present study investigates whether focal vibration of the posterior neck muscles can prevent or abolish it. Self-motion perception was assessed by analyzing the tracking of a ground-fixed visual target during passive sinusoidal horizontal trunk rotation, both symmetric and asymmetric, with a stationary head. After prolonged isometric contractions that induced posterior neck muscle fatigue, perceptual responses to symmetric sinusoidal trunk rotation showed a decrease in gain at lower rotation velocities, and an increase in the final position error (FPE). The changes in gain and FPE were completely prevented by prior high-frequency vibration (100 Hz for 3 min) of the posterior neck muscles, whereas they were eliminated when the vibration was applied after the fatigue-induced deficit had already occurred. We suggest that the focal vibration activating the neck muscle proprioception may inhibit fatigue signals, possibly through a gate control mechanism. Furthermore, the persistence of the vibratory effects was examined by testing the perceptual gain and the FPE after prolonged vibratory application (three separate sessions of ten minutes each, at 1 min rest intervals). It was found that the effects of fatigue on the FPE was eliminated even one week after vibration. This finding suggests that the focal vibratory procedure may be useful to attenuate the impact of fatigue on self-motion perception, potentially preventing deterioration of balance and orientation abilities.</p>","PeriodicalId":12268,"journal":{"name":"Experimental Brain Research","volume":"243 7","pages":"162"},"PeriodicalIF":1.7,"publicationDate":"2025-05-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144191705","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Elena Gessa, Chiara Valzolgher, Elena Giovanelli, Massimo Vescovi, Chiara Visentin, Nicola Prodi, Eloise Di Blasi, Viola Sadler, Francesco Pavani
{"title":"Speech-reading on the lips as a cognitive resource to understand speech in noise.","authors":"Elena Gessa, Chiara Valzolgher, Elena Giovanelli, Massimo Vescovi, Chiara Visentin, Nicola Prodi, Eloise Di Blasi, Viola Sadler, Francesco Pavani","doi":"10.1007/s00221-025-07117-5","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-025-07117-5","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>In challenging acoustic scenarios, speech processing is often linked to listening effort, which can be described as the balance between cognitive demands and motivation to understand speech. In such conditions, people usually rely on several behavioral strategies to support speech understanding and reduce listening effort (e.g., speech-reading behavior). Still, it is not clear what cognitive mechanisms underlie the use of behavioral strategies for listening. We hypothesized that the cognitive and motivational dimensions of listening effort may also drive speech-reading strategies spontaneously adopted in challenging conditions. Normal-hearing adults (N = 64) performed audiovisual speech-recognition in noise, in combination with a concurrent mnemonic task with low vs. high working memory engagement to set cognitive demands. Motivation was manipulated between-subjects through fixed or performance-related monetary rewards. Speech-reading was tracked with eye-movement, and pupil dilation served as a physiological measure of listening effort, confirming manipulation effectiveness. We found that exerted listening effort intensifies speech-reading behavior, with motivation playing a key role in this behavioral adaptation to enhanced cognitive demands. These findings document the association between internal mental processes and behavioral adaptation in the speech domain.</p>","PeriodicalId":12268,"journal":{"name":"Experimental Brain Research","volume":"243 7","pages":"163"},"PeriodicalIF":1.7,"publicationDate":"2025-05-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144191706","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Lucas Murrins Marques, Allan Strauss, Ana Castellani, Sara Barbosa, Marcel Simis, Felipe Fregni, Linamara Battistella
{"title":"Dynamics of sensorimotor-related brain oscillations: EEG insights from healthy individuals in varied upper limb movement conditions.","authors":"Lucas Murrins Marques, Allan Strauss, Ana Castellani, Sara Barbosa, Marcel Simis, Felipe Fregni, Linamara Battistella","doi":"10.1007/s00221-025-07116-6","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-025-07116-6","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Event-related desynchronization (ERD) and event-related synchronization (ERS) are critical neurophysiological phenomena associated with motor execution and inhibitory processes. Their utility spans neurophysiological biomarker research and Brain-Computer Interface (BCI) development. However, standardized frameworks for analyzing ERD and ERS oscillations across motor tasks and frequency ranges remain scarce. This study conducted a cross-sectional analysis of 76 healthy participants from the DEFINE cohort to explore ERD and ERS variations across four motor-related tasks (Motor Execution, Motor Imagery, Active Observation, and Passive Observation) and six frequency bands (Delta, Theta, Low Alpha, High Alpha, Low Beta, and High Beta) using C3 electrode activity. Repeated measures ANOVA revealed task-sensitive ERD and ERS power modulations, with oscillatory responses spanning the 1-30 Hz spectrum. Beta activity exhibited pronounced differences between tasks, highlighting its relevance in motor control, while other bands showed distinct task-dependent variations. These findings underscore the variability in ERD/ERS patterns across different tasks and frequency bands, reinforcing the importance of further research into standardized analytical frameworks. By refining ERD/ERS analyses, our study contributes to developing reference frameworks that can enhance clinical and Brain-Computer Interface (BCI) applications.</p>","PeriodicalId":12268,"journal":{"name":"Experimental Brain Research","volume":"243 7","pages":"160"},"PeriodicalIF":1.7,"publicationDate":"2025-05-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144191704","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
John Cirillo, Carys R Ward, Nicholas Gant, Stacey A Reading, April Ren, Winston D Byblow
{"title":"Modulation of primary motor cortex after experimentally induced and use-dependent plasticity in young and older adults.","authors":"John Cirillo, Carys R Ward, Nicholas Gant, Stacey A Reading, April Ren, Winston D Byblow","doi":"10.1007/s00221-025-07107-7","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-025-07107-7","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The ability to induce plasticity in human primary motor cortex (M1) may be diminished with advancing age. Intracortical inhibition is critical for M1 plasticity and regular participation in physical activity can promote M1 plasticity. This study assessed modulation of M1 excitability and inhibition after paired associative stimulation (PAS) and motor skill acquisition in young and older adults, which also considered the cardiorespiratory fitness of each participant. Thirty-one older (60-88 years) and 20 young (20-33 years) adults were recruited. Electromyographic recordings were obtained from the dominant hand first dorsal interosseous muscle. A sequential visual isometric force task that required index finger abduction was used to investigate motor skill acquisition. Transcranial magnetic stimulation protocols were used to examine corticomotor excitability and short- and long-interval intracortical inhibition (SICI and LICI) before and after each intervention. Corticomotor excitability, normalized to baseline, increased after PAS in young but not older adults, while no age-related differences were observed after skill acquisition. Facilitation of corticomotor excitability after PAS, but not skill acquisition, was positively correlated with cardiorespiratory fitness. SICI decreased after PAS and increased after skill acquisition, with no differences between age groups. LICI increased for young adults and decreased for older adults after PAS, but did not change after skill acquisition. Overall, there was intervention-specific modulation of inhibition, an age-related difference in LICI after PAS, and higher cardiorespiratory fitness was associated with greater corticomotor excitability facilitation after PAS. These findings may help inform future endeavors focused on attenuating age-related declines in brain and motor-cognitive function.</p>","PeriodicalId":12268,"journal":{"name":"Experimental Brain Research","volume":"243 7","pages":"159"},"PeriodicalIF":1.7,"publicationDate":"2025-05-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144186897","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Effect of inaudible 40 Hz binaural beats on attention.","authors":"Ibuki Fujikawa, Joji Fujikawa, Masayuki Fujiwara, Yasushi Takagi, Ryoma Morigaki","doi":"10.1007/s00221-025-07097-6","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-025-07097-6","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Binaural beat (BB) is a sound stimulus that produces an auditory phenomenon due to the difference in sounds of slightly different frequencies of two tones. In the present study, we aimed to examine the effects of 40 Hz BB on attention using a 40 Hz BB, with a baseline frequency set in the inaudible range, in order to eliminate any influence of the baseline sound, which may have been ignored in previous studies on BB that used the audible range. The experiment included electroencephalograph (EEG) analysis with a 16-channel EEG and assessment of attention with attention network test (ANT). The results revealed no significant difference in the correct response rates between EEG and ANT; however, the reaction time (RT) of ANT was significantly lower in the BB sessions than in the non-BB sessions. The correlation between power spectrum density and the mean RT of correct answers in ANT showed a significant difference only for the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex in the theta band.</p>","PeriodicalId":12268,"journal":{"name":"Experimental Brain Research","volume":"243 7","pages":"158"},"PeriodicalIF":1.7,"publicationDate":"2025-05-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144173335","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Bernardo Villa-Sánchez, Andrew Hooyman, Sydney Y Schaefer
{"title":"The influence of informational priming on motor expectancy in transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS).","authors":"Bernardo Villa-Sánchez, Andrew Hooyman, Sydney Y Schaefer","doi":"10.1007/s00221-025-07110-y","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-025-07110-y","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) has shown mixed results in cognitive and motor functions, raising questions about its efficacy and/or the potential influence of psychological factors. Expectations about treatment efficacy (a placebo-like mechanism) might explain this mixed tDCS success. Recent research has begun to examine the expectations of tDCS on performance. However, it is unclear how malleable individual tDCS expectations are within the motor domain. This study investigated how informational priming influences participants' expectations of tDCS on motor function and whether prior tDCS knowledge influences this effect. One hundred ninety-eight participants were recruited and assigned into high or low expectation priming groups. A modified expectation assessment scale, which measured expected tDCS-related motor performance, was administered before and after receiving information about tDCS efficacy. The high-expectation priming group was exposed to evidence of such efficacy, while the low-expectation priming group received information emphasizing the lack of evidence of tDCS efficacy. Expectations of tDCS efficacy for all motor domains significantly increased in the high-expectation priming group and decreased in the low-expectation priming group. Furthermore, after priming, the high-expectation priming group had significantly higher expectations than the low-expectation priming group. Interestingly, participants in the high-expectation priming group with prior knowledge of tDCS showed no change in expectations. Notably, these findings demonstrate that expectations about tDCS's efficacy on motor performance are malleable depending on the information type and prior tDCS knowledge. Future studies are encouraged to control or assess participants' expectations of tDCS to optimize its effect on motor outcomes.</p>","PeriodicalId":12268,"journal":{"name":"Experimental Brain Research","volume":"243 7","pages":"157"},"PeriodicalIF":1.7,"publicationDate":"2025-05-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144173338","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Karin Ludwig, Raffaela M M Böswald, Johannes Schusterbauer, Thomas Schenk
{"title":"Side-specific implicit training of attentional disengagement and reorienting.","authors":"Karin Ludwig, Raffaela M M Böswald, Johannes Schusterbauer, Thomas Schenk","doi":"10.1007/s00221-025-07049-0","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s00221-025-07049-0","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Some patients with parietal brain damage have problems disengaging their attention from ipsilesional stimuli. Although this disengage deficit has been described in the framework of the neglect syndrome, where it is particularly pronounced, no current treatment addresses this issue directly and side-specifically. In this study we propose a paradigm that could serve as such a training and - as a proof of concept - test its effects on the attentional allocation of healthy participants. We trained 36 participants between 20 and 35 years of age in a spatial orienting paradigm in which cues on one side were predictive of the opposite side, while the cues on the opposite side were neutral. We then compared reaction times before, during, and after this training. We could show that (1) this side-specific training specifically accelerated attentional disengagement from the predictive cues, (2) this effect persisted even when cues became unpredictive again, (3) it could be achieved implicitly, i.e., without the participants' knowledge of the true cue-target-relationship, and that (4) it indeed relied on the learning of the cue's predictiveness of the target location and not pure target occurrence probabilities. These results not only contribute to our knowledge about the spatial orienting of attention but might also form the basis for a new approach to treating the disengage deficit.</p>","PeriodicalId":12268,"journal":{"name":"Experimental Brain Research","volume":"243 7","pages":"156"},"PeriodicalIF":1.7,"publicationDate":"2025-05-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12119381/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144157630","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Lefteris Themelis Zografos, Anna Konstantoulaki, Christoph Klein, Argiro Vatakis, Nikolaos Smyrnis
{"title":"Audiovisual integration of speech: evidence for increased accuracy in \"talk\" versus \"listen\" condition.","authors":"Lefteris Themelis Zografos, Anna Konstantoulaki, Christoph Klein, Argiro Vatakis, Nikolaos Smyrnis","doi":"10.1007/s00221-025-07088-7","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s00221-025-07088-7","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Processing of sensory stimuli generated by our own actions differs from that of externally generated stimuli. However, most evidence regarding this phenomenon concerns the processing of unisensory stimuli. A few studies have explored the effect of self-generated actions on multisensory stimuli and how it affects the integration of these stimuli. Most of them used abstract stimuli (e.g., flashes, beeps) rather than more natural ones such as sensations that are commonly correlated with actions that we perform in our everyday lives such as speech. In the current study, we explored the effect of self-generated action on the process of multisensory integration (MSI) during speech. We used a novel paradigm where participants were either listening to the echo of their own speech, while watching a video of themselves producing the same speech (\"talk\", active condition), or they listened to their previously recorded speech and watched the prerecorded video of themselves producing the same speech (\"listen\", passive condition). In both conditions, different stimulus onset asynchronies were introduced between the auditory and visual streams and participants were asked to perform simultaneity judgments. Using these judgments, we determined temporal binding windows (TBW) of integration for each participant and condition. We found that the TBW was significantly smaller in the active as compared to the passive condition indicating more accurate MSI. These results support the conclusion that sensory perception is modulated by self-generated action at the multisensory in addition to the unisensory level.</p>","PeriodicalId":12268,"journal":{"name":"Experimental Brain Research","volume":"243 6","pages":"154"},"PeriodicalIF":1.7,"publicationDate":"2025-05-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12106506/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144142076","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Ruud A J Koster, Coen S Zandvoort, Jennifer N Kerkman, Andreas Daffertshofer, Nadia Dominici
{"title":"Exploring the cortical involvement in sensorimotor integration during early stages of independent walking.","authors":"Ruud A J Koster, Coen S Zandvoort, Jennifer N Kerkman, Andreas Daffertshofer, Nadia Dominici","doi":"10.1007/s00221-025-07099-4","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s00221-025-07099-4","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The control of human locomotion is governed by a combination of congenital and emerging locomotor muscle synergies. The first arguably build on spinal and brainstem circuitries, whereas the latter have a cortical resemblance. By hypothesis this cortical activity reflects sensorimotor integration which matures during the development of walking. We therefore investigated the role of sensory information by manipulating the gravitational loading in 23 toddlers walking on an instrumented treadmill while recording 3D kinematics, EEG, and EMG of 24 trunk and lower extremity muscles. Sensory loading was manipulated via low and high levels of external body weight support. Cortico-synergy connectivity was compared between the two different support levels and at two stages of gait development: onset of independent walking (just after the first steps) and at six months of walking experience. These two age groups consisted of different subjects. For twelve toddlers data quantity and quality met requirements to enter analysis. Four muscle synergies sufficed to characterise gait, regardless of support level and developmental stage. Cortico-synergy coherence confirmed involvement of the sensorimotor cortex only in the two emerging synergies associated with walking onset. Reduced sensory loading was accompanied by a decreased coherence but only in toddlers with little walking experience. That gravitational loading alters the cortical resemblance of the synergies, especially at an early age, suggests that it reflects the integration of sensory information, at least to some extent. Our findings hint at the importance of sensorimotor integration in the emergence of the synergies linked to the onset of independent walking.</p>","PeriodicalId":12268,"journal":{"name":"Experimental Brain Research","volume":"243 6","pages":"153"},"PeriodicalIF":1.7,"publicationDate":"2025-05-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12106539/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144142077","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}