Experimental Brain Research最新文献

{"title":"Cognitive load affects gaze dynamics during real-world tasks.","authors":"A P Martinez-Cedillo, N Gavrila, A Mishra, E Geangu, T Foulsham","doi":"10.1007/s00221-025-07037-4","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s00221-025-07037-4","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>In everyday tasks, active gaze is used to gather information for the actions we perform. The cognitive resources required for such gaze control have rarely been investigated. We examined how a secondary cognitive load task would affect gaze during tea- and sandwich-making, everyday tasks which involve sequences of object-related actions (Hayhoe in Vis Cogn 7(1-3):43-64, 2000 and Land et al. in Perception 28(11):1311-1328, 1999). Participants performed these tasks while wearing a mobile eye-tracker, while also counting backwards by threes (high cognitive load) or by ones (low cognitive load). Our findings revealed that participants were slower in tasks and sub-tasks and exhibited more fixations on irrelevant objects in high-load than low-load conditions. Furthermore, the eye-hand span was reduced under high-load conditions, meaning that participants were less likely to look ahead of their manual actions. These findings reveal specific effects of cognitive load in realistic, everyday situations, and begin to shed light on the mechanisms behind gaze control in active tasks. These mechanisms are not resource-free.</p>","PeriodicalId":12268,"journal":{"name":"Experimental Brain Research","volume":"243 4","pages":"82"},"PeriodicalIF":1.7,"publicationDate":"2025-03-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11876210/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143540662","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}

{"title":"Visually induced motion sickness correlates with on-road car sickness while performing a visual task.","authors":"Tugrul Irmak, Ksander N de Winkel, Riender Happee","doi":"10.1007/s00221-025-07020-z","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s00221-025-07020-z","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Previous literature suggests that the motion sickness susceptibility questionnaire (MSSQ) is inadequate for prediction of motion sickness under naturalistic driving conditions. In this study, we investigated whether visually induced motion sickness using a virtual reality headset could be used as a quick and reliable way to predict participant susceptibility. We recruited 22 participants to complete a two-part experiment. In randomised order, we determined their susceptibility to visual motion sickness and their susceptibility to car sickness. To determine visual susceptibility, the visual scene was sequentially rotated at constant velocity around an earth-vertical yaw axis and rolled about the nasiooccipital axis, in 30 s intervals. Car sickness, on the other hand, was elicited under completely naturalistic conditions, being driven in the backseat of a car in the city of Delft, performing a visual task on a laptop. Sickness ratings were collected at regular intervals in both parts of the experiment. We found that the frequencies excited by naturalistic driving are very low, which has important consequences for motion sickness modelling and mitigation in automated vehicles. We found that individual car sickness correlated positively with visual motion sickness. This indicates that both are influenced by a common sickness susceptibility factor. Car sickness correlated similarly with visual motion sickness and MSSQ. Overall, our results indicate that combining measurements of sickness responses to a visual stimulus and MSSQ can yield a reliable method for determining individual sickness susceptibility. To this end the visual stimulus and the weighting with MSSQ responses can be refined using a much larger sample and considering additional visual conditions in driving.</p>","PeriodicalId":12268,"journal":{"name":"Experimental Brain Research","volume":"243 4","pages":"81"},"PeriodicalIF":1.7,"publicationDate":"2025-03-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11876265/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143540671","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}

{"title":"Akt activator SC79 prevents impaired subsequent LTP in the hippocampus of hypothyroid rats.","authors":"Burak Tan, Bilal Koşar, Buse Günaydın Türker, Oğuzhan Yaylalı, Seza Nur Suluhan, Cem Süer, Nurcan Dursun","doi":"10.1007/s00221-025-07025-8","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-025-07025-8","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>This study, investigated whether impaired hippocampal subsequent LTP due to hypothyroidism could be prevented by the Akt activator SC79. Hypothyroidism was induced by PTU (% 0.05) by giving it in drinking water for 21 days. Hippocampal subsequent LTP was induced by HFS (4 × 100 Hz) followed by LFS (5 Hz, 900 pulses, three min.). SC79 or saline was infused intrahippocampally for one hour, starting from induction of subsequent LTP. LTP was evaluated as field excitatory postsynaptic potential (fEPSP) slope and population spike (PS) amplitude. It was found that both the fEPSP slope and PS amplitude of the hypothyroid group rats were significantly reduced compared to the control, control + SC79, and hypothyroidism + SC79 infusion group rats. These findings indicate that hypothyroidism reduces hippocampal subsequent LTP in young-adult rats, while the infusion of the Akt activator SC79 prevents this decrease. Thus, decreased activation of Akt is responsible for the impaired hippocampal subsequent LTP in hypothyroidism.</p>","PeriodicalId":12268,"journal":{"name":"Experimental Brain Research","volume":"243 4","pages":"83"},"PeriodicalIF":1.7,"publicationDate":"2025-03-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143540661","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":"Fundamental origins of neural tube defects with a basis in genetics and nutrition.","authors":"Anjusha Bhasker, Shobi Veleri","doi":"10.1007/s00221-025-07016-9","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-025-07016-9","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Neural tube defects (NTDs) are leading congenital malformations. Its global prevalence is one in 1000 pregnancies and it has high morbidity and mortality. It has multiple risk factors like genetic errors and environmental stressors like maternal malnutrition and in utero exposure to pollutants like chemicals. The genetic program determines neural tube development based on timely expression of many genes involved in developmental signaling pathways like BMP, PCP and SHH. BMP expression defines ectoderm. SOX represses BMP in ectoderm and convertes to the neuroectoderm. Subsequently, PCP molecules define the tissue patterning for convergent-extension, a critical step in neural tube genesis. Further, SHH sets spatial patterning of the neural tube. Nutrients are the essential major environmental input for embryogenesis. But it may also carry risk factors. Malnutrition, especially folate deficiency, during embryogenesis is a major cause for NTDs. Folate is integral in the One Carbon metabolic pathway. Its deficiency and error in the pathway are implicated in NTDs. Folate supplementation alone is insufficient to prevent NTDs. Thus, a comprehensive understanding of the various risk factors is necessary to strategize reduction of NTDs. We review the current knowledge of various risk factors, like genetic, metabolic, nutritional, and drugs causing NTDs and discuss the steps required to identify them in the early embryogenesis to avoid NTDs.</p>","PeriodicalId":12268,"journal":{"name":"Experimental Brain Research","volume":"243 4","pages":"79"},"PeriodicalIF":1.7,"publicationDate":"2025-03-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143536944","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":"The effect of age on ankle joint position sense differs between contralateral matching and ipsilateral reproduction tasks.","authors":"A Theodosiadou, C Sahinis, A Papavasileiou, M Fabre, T Lapole, I G Amiridis, D A Patikas, S Baudry","doi":"10.1007/s00221-025-06999-9","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-025-06999-9","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Ankle joint angle position sense (JPS) plays a crucial role in maintaining balance and coordinating movements, yet its changes across the lifespan remain unclear. This cross-sectional study aimed to investigate changes in ankle JPS across the lifespan using an ipsilateral reproduction task (IRT) and a contralateral concurrent matching task (CMT). One hundred and fifty eight individuals (6-92yrs) were allocated into 6 groups: Young-children (YC; n = 14) and Old-children (OC; n = 15), Young (Y: 19-39yrs; n = 33), Middle-aged (M: 40-59yrs; n = 41), Young-Old (YO: 60-5yrs; n = 24) and Old-Old (OO: >76yrs; n = 31) adults. The IRT consisted of reproducing a previously experienced ankle angle with the same limb. The CMT consisted of matching the passively held target ankle angle of one limb with the contralateral ankle. Both tests were performed blind-folded from 5° and 20° plantar flexion position to a 5° dorsiflexion target position. Error was expressed in absolute (AE) and constant (CE) values. In IRT, no difference was observed for AE and CE (p > 0.05) between groups, regardless of the initial position (5° or 20°). For the CMT, no age effect was observed for AE (p > 0.05), but children and older adults showed more positive (overestimation) and more negative (underestimation) CE, respectively, regardless of the initial position (p < 0.001). These results indicate that age affects the direction of the error (CE) rather than the magnitude of the error (AE), regardless of the angular range. They further suggest that CMT and CE could be more relevant when comparing ankle JPS between populations of different ages.</p>","PeriodicalId":12268,"journal":{"name":"Experimental Brain Research","volume":"243 4","pages":"78"},"PeriodicalIF":1.7,"publicationDate":"2025-02-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143523014","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":"Transfer of learned object manipulations between two- and five-digit grasps.","authors":"Jordana Ulloa-Marquez, Jennifer Gutterman, Marco Santello, Andrew M Gordon","doi":"10.1007/s00221-025-07029-4","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s00221-025-07029-4","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Successful object manipulation involves integrating object properties into a motor plan and scaling fingertip forces through learning. This study investigated whether learned manipulations using a two-digit grip transfer to a five-digit grip and vice versa, focusing on the challenges posed by added degrees of freedom in force distribution. The goal of the task was to exert the necessary compensatory torque (Tcom) and vertical forces to minimize object roll on a visually symmetrical object that with an asymmetrical mass distribution. To examine this, subjects performed blocked consecutive learning trials before switching grip type. Our results support the learning transfer between two-digits and five-digit grasp configurations despite challenges in maintaining perfect stability during the grip switch. Subjects adapted their grip forces (GF), center of pressure (CoP), and Tcom to minimize object roll, with significant improvements observed from novel (1st) to transfer (11th) trials. These findings suggest high-level, effector-independent representations of object manipulation that enable generalization across grip types, though some limitations in force distribution and digit position arise during transfers.</p>","PeriodicalId":12268,"journal":{"name":"Experimental Brain Research","volume":"243 3","pages":"77"},"PeriodicalIF":1.7,"publicationDate":"2025-02-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143498937","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":"Dynamic interactions between discrete and rhythmic bimanual movement.","authors":"Remington Angel, Se-Woong Park","doi":"10.1007/s00221-025-07028-5","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s00221-025-07028-5","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Many motor tasks in everyday life, such as driving and cooking, involve a combination of discrete and rhythmic movements. While an increasing number of studies have identified discrete and rhythmic movements as fundamental components in complex motor control, the dynamic interactions between them remain elusive. This study aimed to quantify changes in kinematics when ongoing rhythmic movement of the right arm is perturbed by either rhythmic (RI) or discrete initiation (DI) of the left arm. Fourteen young adults (12 right-handed, 2 ambidextrous) performed bimanual forearm rotations on a horizontal plane under two conditions, i.e., RI and DI. We analyzed the change of instantaneous phase progression. Results showed that the perturbed magnitude and direction in the ongoing right arm were dependent on the relative phase between the two arms at the initiation of the left arm in both DI and RI. When observing the phase progression over the duration of the movement of discrete reaching, perturbations in the DI condition were comparable to those in the RI condition. However, over an extended duration beyond the discrete movement time, perturbations in the DI condition were significantly larger than those in the RI condition. The results suggest that, while the bimanual interaction appears consistent across the two types of movement, termination rather than initiation of discrete movements may engage distinct motor control processes compared to rhythmic movements.</p>","PeriodicalId":12268,"journal":{"name":"Experimental Brain Research","volume":"243 3","pages":"76"},"PeriodicalIF":1.7,"publicationDate":"2025-02-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143482302","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":"Recreational older ballet dancers fall less with more effective reactive balance control than non-dancers after a slip during gait.","authors":"Caroline Simpkins, Feng Yang","doi":"10.1007/s00221-025-07021-y","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s00221-025-07021-y","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Recent work revealed that recreational ballet practice reduces older adults' fall risk after a standing-slip perturbation. However, whether such ballet practice can lead to decreased falls and better reactive motor control after a gait-slip among older adults remains unclear. This study investigated whether ballet reduces older adults' gait-slip falls and the possible neuromuscular and biomechanical mechanisms responsible for fall risk reduction. Protected by a safety harness, 15 older recreational ballet dancers and 21 age- and sex-matched non-dancers experienced a single unexpected slip while walking on a treadmill. The slip acceleration, duration, and displacement were standardized at 8 m/s², 0.2 s, and 16 cm, respectively. Motion and electromyography data were collected during the gait-slip trial. The outcomes included slip-faller rate as the primary outcome and the following secondary ones: dynamic gait stability, slipping foot displacement, recovery stepping performance, trunk movement, and recovery leg muscle electromyography latency (rectus femoris, biceps femoris, medial gastrocnemius, and tibialis anterior). The results revealed that fewer dancers fell after the gait-slip (p = 0.029). Dancers displayed better stability at recovery foot touchdown (p = 0.012), a longer (p = 0.002) and faster (p = 0.009) step, shorter slipping foot displacement (p = 0.031), less backward trunk velocity at touchdown (p = 0.011), and shorter latencies for all four muscles (p≤0.038). The results suggest that older dancers are more resilient to an unexpected gait-slip and display better reactive balance control responding to the slip perturbation, which could be related to their more effective recovery stepping, better trunk movement control, and faster leg muscle activations.</p>","PeriodicalId":12268,"journal":{"name":"Experimental Brain Research","volume":"243 3","pages":"75"},"PeriodicalIF":1.7,"publicationDate":"2025-02-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143482426","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":"Computational model for control of hand movement in Parkinson's disease using deep brain stimulation.","authors":"Maibam Pooya Chanu, Gajendra Kumar, Ramana Kumar Vinjamuri, Nayan M Kakoty","doi":"10.1007/s00221-025-07026-7","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s00221-025-07026-7","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Parkinson's disease (PD) is a progressive neurological disorder characterized by the loss of dopamine in the substantia nigra resulting in movement disorder. Although several computational models have been proposed to explore different aspects of PD, a comprehensive computational model of PD and its suppression remains elusive. This study presents a computational model of the Cortico-Basal Ganglia Thalamus (CBGT) network, and demonstrates the effects of close-loop deep brain stimulation (DBS) as a potential therapeutic intervention. The model focuses on addressing abnormal brain wave patterns associated with PD-related hand movement through DBS. To assess the model performance, a three-link manipulator is incorporated into the CBGT model, with the joints corresponding to shoulder, elbow and wrist of human arm. PD-like symptoms are simulated by modulating the dopaminergic input. The striatal (STR) neurons were selected as target neurons for application of DBS. A proportional-integral (PI) controller regulates DBS at different frequencies in striatal neurons based on errors in manipulator movement. The effectiveness of DBS at STR was compared with the DBS at globus pallidus externus and subthalamic nucleus. DBS suppressed neuronal signal oscillations at 13-30 Hz and reduced abnormal hand movements. The results demonstrate that application of DBS at STR could correct manipulator movement. Additionally, the trajectory of movement by the end-effector were compared with DBS at different target neurons in CBGT. These findings suggest the therapeutic potential of the proposed computational model in development of neuroprosthesis for PD patients.</p>","PeriodicalId":12268,"journal":{"name":"Experimental Brain Research","volume":"243 3","pages":"74"},"PeriodicalIF":1.7,"publicationDate":"2025-02-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143482088","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":"Patterns of brain activity in choice or instructed go and no-go tasks.","authors":"Sanaz Attaripour Isfahani, Patrick McGurrin, Felipe Vial, Mark Hallett","doi":"10.1007/s00221-025-07027-6","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s00221-025-07027-6","url":null,"abstract":"&lt;p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The goal of this study was to investigate the decision making process for choosing what movements to make. We used electroencephalography (EEG) to investigate patterns of the contingent negative variation (CNV) associated with free-choice decisions to move or abstain, comparing them to conditions where actions were commanded. Our primary hypothesis was that choice tasks would differ significantly from each other and exhibit EEG patterns akin to their command-driven counterparts after the decisions were made, at least, in the 50 ms block of time prior to movement. A secondary analysis evaluated post hoc comparisons of time, in 50 ms blocks, to understand the temporal development of the CNV for each condition. We also conducted an exploratory analysis of EEG event-related desynchronization (ERD) to identify patterns of brain activity associated with the decision-making process. This approach was taken due to the exploratory nature of our hypotheses concerning the spatial and temporal characteristics of EEG activity during these free-choice versus commanded tasks. We studied 12 right-handed healthy volunteers (7 women, mean age 53 years, range 39-73 years) with no prior history of neurological or major psychiatric illness. A CNV paradigm encompassing commanded and choice tasks was devised, with a 2500 ms interval between S1 and S2, while recording EEG and electromyography (EMG). S1 provided full information about the upcoming task, which was to be executed at the time of S2. We assessed CNV and explored whole scalp EEG activity, including both voltage as well as power in the alpha and beta frequency ranges. Clear and similar CNVs were observed for command and choice go tasks prior to the movements, contrasting with near-zero CNVs for the command and choice no-go tasks. Separation of CNVs for command go and no-go tasks occurred around 1600 ms post-S1, and choice CNVs separated about 2150 ms post-S1. Exploratory analysis revealed that beta power provided information about decision and preparation processes much earlier. The left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) exhibited the initial sign of decision approximately 500 ms post-S1 for all tasks, with subsequent preparation for movement or restraint involving distinct activity in various brain regions. The localization of effects in the left DLPFC was determined by visual analysis of the informative electrode sites. The CNVs separate about 2 s after S1, and it appears that this process represents preparation for movement (or no movement). Exploration of the beta activity suggests an earlier decision process which leads eventually to subsequent task preparation and activation. Choice decisions lag slightly behind command decisions, with the CNV apparently reflecting motor implementation rather than the decision-making process. In a simple motor task with an exploratory analysis, both commanded and choice-based decisions are rapidly initiated in the left DLPFC. While the CNV distinguishes betwee","PeriodicalId":12268,"journal":{"name":"Experimental Brain Research","volume":"243 3","pages":"73"},"PeriodicalIF":1.7,"publicationDate":"2025-02-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11845411/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143467326","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}