Motor Activity
Research Papers
Volitional Control of Brain Motor Activity and Its Therapeutic Potential
BACKGROUND: Neurofeedback training is a closed-loop neuromodulatory technique in which real-time feedback of brain activity and connectivity is provided to the participant for the purpose of volitional neural control. Through practice and reinforcement, such learning has been shown to facilitate measurable changes in brain function and behavior. OBJECTIVES: In this review, we examine how neurofeedback, coupled with motor imagery training, has the potential to improve or normalize motor function in neurological diseases such as Parkinson disease and chronic stroke. We will also explore neurofeedback in the context of brain-machine interfaces (BMIs), discussing both noninvasive and invasive methods which have been used to power external devices (eg, robot hand orthosis or exoskeleton) in the context of motor neurorehabilitation. CONCLUSIONS: The published literature provides mounting high-quality evidence that neurofeedback and BMI control may lead to clinically relevant changes in brain function and behavior.
View Full Paper →Subthalamic beta-targeted neurofeedback speeds up movement initiation but increases tremor in Parkinsonian patients
Previous studies have explored neurofeedback training for Parkinsonian patients to suppress beta oscillations in the subthalamic nucleus (STN). However, its impacts on movements and Parkinsonian tremor are unclear. We developed a neurofeedback paradigm targeting STN beta bursts and investigated whether neurofeedback training could improve motor initiation in Parkinson's disease compared to passive observation. Our task additionally allowed us to test which endogenous changes in oscillatory STN activities are associated with trial-to-trial motor performance. Neurofeedback training reduced beta synchrony and increased gamma activity within the STN, and reduced beta band coupling between the STN and motor cortex. These changes were accompanied by reduced reaction times in subsequently cued movements. However, in Parkinsonian patients with pre-existing symptoms of tremor, successful volitional beta suppression was associated with an amplification of tremor which correlated with theta band activity in STN local field potentials, suggesting an additional cross-frequency interaction between STN beta and theta activities.
View Full Paper →NIRS-based neurofeedback training in a virtual reality classroom for children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder: study protocol for a randomized controlled trial
BACKGROUND: Children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) suffer from attention deficits, motor hyperactivity, and impulsive behaviour. These impairments are experienced at home, at school, and with friends. Functional imaging studies show that ADHD behaviour and impairments in executive functions (EFs) are mirrored by aberrant neurophysiological functioning. Moreover, several studies show that ADHD behaviour, impairments in EFs, and a lack of self-control contribute to poor school performance. Non-pharmacological interventions such as neurofeedback training (NFT), for instance, aim at improving neurophysiological and neuropsychological functioning as well as behaviour. Consequently, NFT is expected to improve school performance, EFs, and self-control in children with ADHD. Generalization of acquired self-regulation skills from laboratory to real life is crucial for a transfer to everyday situations and is hypothesized to be facilitated via training using virtual reality (VR) environments. Consequently, experiencing NFT in VR is expected to yield greater effects than training in two dimensions (2D). METHODS/DESIGN: Ninety children with a clinical diagnosis of ADHD will be included in the study. Participants may be medicated or unmedicated. After random assignation to one of three conditions, all participants receive 15 training sessions of either near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS)-based NFT in VR, NIRS-based NFT in 2D, or electromyogram-based biofeedback training in VR. ADHD symptoms, self-control, EF, health-related quality of life, school performance, and motor activity measured via parent, teacher, and child reports or objectively will be assessed before and after the intervention and at a 6 months follow-up. Furthermore, we are interested in parents' expectations about the training's effects. DISCUSSION: This is, to our knowledge, the first study investigating the efficacy of NFT for children with ADHD in a VR compared to a 2D environment. Furthermore, this study will contribute to the discussion about the efficacy and specific and unspecific effects of NFTs in children with ADHD. In addition to commonly assessed variables such as ADHD symptoms, NIRS and behavioural data obtained in EF measures, health-related quality of life, and parents' expectations about the intervention's effects, this study will investigate the effects on self-control, school performance, and motor activity. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT02572180 . Registered on 19 November 2015.
View Full Paper →EEG and behavioral changes in a hyperkinetic child concurrent with training of the sensorimotor rhythm (SMR): a preliminary report
Reduced seizure incidence coupled with voluntary motor inhibition accompanied conditioned increases in the sensorimotor rhythm (SMR), a 12- 14 Hz rhythm appearing over rolandic cortex. Although SMR biofeedback training has been successfully applied to various forms of epilepsy in humans, its potential use in decreasing hyperactivity has been limited to a few cases in which a seizure history was also a significant feature. The present study represents a first attempt to explore the technique's applicability to the problem of hyperkinesis independent of the epilepsy issue. The results of several months of EEG biofeedback training in a hyperkinetic child tend to corroborate and extend previous findings. Feedback presentations for SMR were contingent on the production of 12- 14-Hz activity in the absence of 4- 7-Hz slow-wave activity. A substantial increase in SMR motor inhibition, as gauged by laboratory measures of muscular tone (chin EMG) and by a global behavioral assessment in the classroom. Opposite trends in motor inhibition occurred when the training procedure was reversed and feedback presentations were contingent on the production of 4- 7 Hz in the absence of 12- 14-Hz activity. Although the preliminary nature of these results is stressed, the subject population has recently been increased to establish the validity and generality of the findings and will include the use of SMR biofeedback training after medication has been withdrawn.
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