John G Buckley, Alan R De Asha, Brendan T Barrett, Adam Clansey, Kevin J Deluzio
{"title":"Sensorimotor adaptation to sustained lower visual field occlusion during continuous locomotion with and without obstacle negotiation.","authors":"John G Buckley, Alan R De Asha, Brendan T Barrett, Adam Clansey, Kevin J Deluzio","doi":"10.1007/s00221-025-07111-x","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s00221-025-07111-x","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The importance of having visual feedback of the lower-limb to locomotion control, has typically been examined by intermittently occluding the lower visual field (lvf) in repeated obstacle crossing trials. A consistent finding is that foot clearance increases following lvf occlusion. However, there is some evidence that the increase in clearance diminishes with further repetition. This calls into question the importance of lvf feedback in the control of locomotion. We present two studies investigating how foot clearance is affected as a result of sustained lvf occlusion during continuous locomotion over i) a level surface and ii) the same surface, but involving intermittent obstacle negotiation. In both studies, clearance increased following lvf occlusion but then diminished within a few minutes of continued walking: suggesting that the initial increase may have been an acute but transient response. After four minutes, clearance in level-walking had returned to pre-occlusion levels, whereas for obstacle crossing, clearance remained elevated and showed only a slight lessening over time. These findings provide support for the notion that lvf ex-proprioceptive information is not paramount in the control of the swinging limb/foot during overground gait, but it is customarily used in adaptive gait involving obstacle crossing in determining foot placement before the obstacle and hence clearance over it. We argue that lvf occlusion leads to a more general 'acute' perturbation of gait that is not necessarily related to the elimination of visual ex-proprioceptive feedback, and this has implications for the design of laboratory-based studies investigating the role of vision in locomotion.</p>","PeriodicalId":12268,"journal":{"name":"Experimental Brain Research","volume":"243 7","pages":"167"},"PeriodicalIF":1.7,"publicationDate":"2025-06-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12137439/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144215322","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":"Auditory P3a reflects attentional process, not response inhibition to deviant processing: an ERP study with three-stimulus oddball paradigm.","authors":"Motoyuki Sanada, Morihiro Shimada, Jun'ichi Katayama","doi":"10.1007/s00221-025-07114-8","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s00221-025-07114-8","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>In a three-stimulus oddball task, the P3a event-related potential (ERP) is typically elicited by an infrequent deviant, with its amplitude increasing under difficult task conditions. In the visual modality, this P3a enhancement has been shown to reflect attentional process rather than response inhibition to the deviant. This study aimed to examine whether P3a amplitude increase by task difficulty in the auditory modality also reflects attentional process. The same experimental design as in the visual study was applied, manipulating stimulus category (three- vs. two-category) and task difficulty (easy vs. difficult). In the three-category condition, stimuli included standard tones, target deviant tones, and non-target deviant chords, with only target deviant tones requiring a response. In the two-category condition, stimuli were categorized into standard tones, target deviant tones and target deviant chords. Thus, the difference between the two conditions is that deviant chords were non-target or target. Task difficulty was varied by adjusting frequency distance between standard tones and target deviant tones. If P3a reflects attentional process, enhancement should occur in both conditions, while response inhibition would only enhance P3a in the three-category condition. Results showed that P3a amplitude increased by task difficulty occurred in both conditions, supporting the attentional process hypothesis. The fact that the P3a augmentation reflects attentional process regardless of sensory modality suggests that this process is mediated by modality-independent neural mechanisms.</p>","PeriodicalId":12268,"journal":{"name":"Experimental Brain Research","volume":"243 7","pages":"166"},"PeriodicalIF":1.7,"publicationDate":"2025-06-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144215321","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}
Anna M Wissmann, Mathew W Hill, Thomas Muehlbauer, Johanna Lambrich
{"title":"Impact of arm movement strategies on emotional state and gait outcomes during height-induced postural threat in healthy children compared to young adults.","authors":"Anna M Wissmann, Mathew W Hill, Thomas Muehlbauer, Johanna Lambrich","doi":"10.1007/s00221-025-07112-w","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s00221-025-07112-w","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Empirical evidence indicates that height-induced postural threat as well as the restriction of arm movements lead to detrimental effects on walking performance. However, it is unclear whether the deteriorations are more pronounced in children (i.e., due to incomplete maturation) compared to young adults. This study investigated the effects of different arm movement strategies on subjective and objective indicators related to walking at or above ground-level in children compared to young adults. Twenty-nine children (age: 11.1 ± 0.3 years) and 26 young adults (age: 24.0 ± 4.7 years) walked five meters at self-selected speed on ground-level (no threat) and 80 cm above ground-level (threat) with free and restricted arm movements. Walking outcomes (i.e., gait speed, cadence) were measured and used as objective markers. Self-reported emotional state outcomes (i.e., balance confidence, fear of falling, perceived safety, conscious balance processing) were assessed and used as subjective indicators related to walking. Children significantly differed from young adults in objective and subjective outcomes related to gait by showing no decrease in walking cadence from the no threat to the threat condition (irrespective of arm movement condition) and a decrease in perceived safety when walking with restricted compared to free arm movements (irrespective of threat condition). The findings extend previous research related to postural threat and arm restriction while walking in young adults and provide new insights into understanding how children behave under these conditions.</p>","PeriodicalId":12268,"journal":{"name":"Experimental Brain Research","volume":"243 7","pages":"164"},"PeriodicalIF":1.7,"publicationDate":"2025-06-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12133992/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144208082","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}
Arran T Reader, Laura Gaile, Wenxi Li, Emily E Cheah Mc Corry, Kirsten Mackie
{"title":"Multiple object handling: exploring strategies for cumulative grasping and transport using a single hand.","authors":"Arran T Reader, Laura Gaile, Wenxi Li, Emily E Cheah Mc Corry, Kirsten Mackie","doi":"10.1007/s00221-025-07084-x","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s00221-025-07084-x","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Humans can cumulatively grasp multiple objects and then transport them using a single hand (e.g., when clearing up tableware). This skill, which we refer to as 'multiple object handling', helps minimise the number of actions required to transport objects. However, it also presents unique challenges for the sensorimotor system, including the use of grips other than finger-thumb opposition (almost always used for grasping single objects). In the present work we explored the strategies used for multiple object handling, particularly focussing on object selection and grip choice. Participants were presented with pairs of objects, asked to grasp one of them and then, without placing that object down, grasp the second object and transport both to a designated location. We examined the order in which participants selected objects and the grips used for grasping and holding them. Results provide preliminary evidence for a typical approach to multiple object handling. We observed that when two objects were grasped cumulatively for transport, finger-thumb opposition was almost always used to grasp the first object, which was then frequently held using an atypical grip (e.g., finger-finger or finger-palm opposition). Finger-thumb opposition was almost always used once again to grasp the subsequent object. Participants preferred to grasp objects with lower mass or surface area first, potentially facilitating this approach. In sum, this work provides insight into a technique commonly used for efficient object transport.</p>","PeriodicalId":12268,"journal":{"name":"Experimental Brain Research","volume":"243 7","pages":"165"},"PeriodicalIF":1.7,"publicationDate":"2025-06-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12134043/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144208098","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}
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":"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":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12126363/pdf/","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":"OA","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":"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":"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":"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":"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":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12125097/pdf/","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":"OA","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":"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}