Luring the Motor System: Impact of Performance-Contingent Incentives on Pre-Movement Beta-Band Activity and Motor Performance.

It has been shown that when incentives are provided during movement preparation, activity in parieto-frontal regions reflects both expected value and motivational salience. Yet behavioral work suggests that the processing of rewards is faster than for punishments, raising the possibility that expected value and motivational salience manifest at different latencies during movement planning. Given the role of beta oscillations (13-30 Hz) in movement preparation and in communication within the reward circuit, this study investigated how beta activity is modulated by positive and negative monetary incentives during reach planning, and in particular whether it reflects expected value and motivational salience at different latencies. Electroencephalography was recorded while male and female humans performed a reaching task in which reward or punishment delivery depended on movement accuracy. Before a preparatory delay period, participants were informed of the consequences of hitting or missing the target, according to four experimental conditions: Neutral (hit/miss:+0/-0¢), Reward (hit/miss:+5/-0¢), Punish (hit/miss:+0/-5¢) and Mixed (hit/miss:+5/-5¢). Results revealed that beta power over parieto-frontal regions was strongly modulated by incentives during the delay period, with power positively correlating with movement times. Interestingly, beta power was selectively sensitive to potential rewards early in the delay period, after which it came to reflect motivational salience as movement onset neared. These results demonstrate that beta activity reflects expected value and motivational salience on different time scales during reach planning. They also provide support for models that link beta activity with basal ganglia and dopamine for the allocation of neural resources according to behavioral salience.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT The present work demonstrates that pre-movement parieto-frontal beta power is modulated by monetary incentives in a goal-directed reaching task. Specifically, beta power transiently scaled with the availability of rewards early in movement planning, before reflecting motivational salience as movement onset neared. Moreover, pre-movement beta activity correlated with the vigor of the upcoming movement. These findings suggest that beta oscillations reflect neural processes that mediate the invigorating effect of incentives on motor performance, possibly through dopamine-mediated interactions with the basal ganglia.

Delta-Band Oscillations in Motor Regions Predict Hand Selection for Reaching.

Current models hold that action selection is achieved by competitive interactions between co-existing motor representations associated with each potential action. Critically, selection via competition requires biasing signals to enable one of these alternatives to be selected. This study tested the hypothesis that selection is related to the prestimulus excitability of neuronal ensembles in which movements are encoded, as assessed through the phase of delta-band oscillations (2-4 Hz). Electroencephalography was recorded while participants performed speeded reaches toward appearing visual targets using the hand of their choice. The target locations were controlled such that only targets for which the left and right hands were selected equally often were used for analysis. Results revealed that hand selection as well as reach reaction times strongly depended upon the instantaneous phase of delta at the moment of target onset. This effect was maximal over contralateral motor regions, and occurred in the absence of prestimulus alpha- (8-12 Hz) and beta-band (15-30 Hz) amplitude modulations. These findings demonstrate that the excitability of motor regions acts as a modulatory factor for hand choice during reaching. They extend current models by showing that action selection is related to the underlying brain state independently of previously known decision variables.

Attenuation of visual reafferent signals in the parietal cortex during voluntary movement.

It is well established that the cortical processing of somatosensory and auditory signals is attenuated when they result from self-generated actions compared with external events. This phenomenon is thought to result from an efference copy of motor commands used to predict the sensory consequences of an action through a forward model. The present work examined whether attenuation also takes place for visual reafferent signals from the moving limb during voluntary reaching movements. To address this issue, EEG activity was recorded in a condition in which visual feedback of the hand was provided in real time and compared with a condition in which it was presented with a 150-ms delay, thus creating a mismatch between the predicted and actual visual consequences of the movement. Results revealed that the amplitude of the N1 component of the visual event-related potential evoked by hand visual feedback over the parietal cortex was significantly smaller when presented in real time compared with when it was delayed. These data suggest that the cortical processing of visual reafferent signals is attenuated when they are correctly predicted, likely as a result of a forward model.

Implicit Sensorimotor Adaptation Proceeds in Absence of Movement Execution.

In implicit sensorimotor adaptation, a mismatch between the predicted and actual sensory feedback results in a sensory prediction error (SPE). Sensory predictions have long been thought to be linked to descending motor commands, implying a necessary contribution of movement execution to adaptation. However, recent work has shown that mere motor imagery (MI) also engages predictive mechanisms, opening up the possibility that MI might be sufficient to drive implicit adaptation. In a within-subject design in humans (n = 30), implicit adaptation was assessed in a center-out reaching task, following a single exposure to a visuomotor rotation. It was hypothesized that performing MI of a reaching movement while being provided with an animation of rotated visual feedback (MI condition) would lead to postrotation biases (PRBs) similar to those observed when the movement is executed (Execution condition). Results revealed that both the MI and Execution conditions led to significant directional biases following rotated trials. Yet the magnitude of these biases was significantly larger in the Execution condition. To further probe the contribution of MI to adaptation, a Control condition was conducted in which participants were presented with the same rotated visual animation as in the MI condition, but in which they were prevented from performing MI. Surprisingly, significant biases were also observed in the Control condition, suggesting that MI per se may not have accounted for adaptation. Overall, these results suggest that implicit adaptation can be partially supported by processes other than those that strictly pertain to generating motor commands, although movement execution does potentiate it.

Automatic detection of passing and shooting in water polo using machine learning: a feasibility study.

There is currently no efficient way to quantify overhead throwing volume in water polo. Therefore, this study aimed to test the feasibility of a method to detect passes and shots in water polo automatically using inertial measurement units (IMU) and machine-learning algorithms. Eight water polo players wore one IMU sensor on the wrist (dominant hand) and one on the sacrum during six practices each. Sessions were filmed with a video camera and manually tagged for individual shots or passes. Data were synchronised between video tagging and IMU sensors using a cross-correlation approach. Support vector machine (SVM) and artificial neural networks (ANN) were compared based on sensitivity and specificity for identifying shots and passes. A total of 7294 actions were identified during the training sessions, including 945 shots and 5361 passes. Using SVM, passes and shots together were identified with 94.4% (95%CI = 91.8-96.4) sensitivity and 93.6% (95%CI = 91.4-95.4) specificity. Using ANN yielded similar sensitivity (93.0% [95%CI = 90.1-95.1]) and specificity (93.4% [95%CI = 91.1 = 95.2]). The results suggest that this method of identifying overhead throwing motions with IMU has potential for future field applications. A set-up with one single sensor at the wrist can suffice to measure these activities in water polo.

Single-Pulse TMS over the Parietal Cortex Does Not Impair Sensorimotor Perturbation-Induced Changes in Motor Commands.

Intermittent exposure to a sensorimotor perturbation, such as a visuomotor rotation, is known to cause a directional bias on the subsequent movement that opposes the previously experienced perturbation. To date, it is unclear whether the parietal cortex is causally involved in this postperturbation movement bias. In a recent electroencephalogram study, Savoie et al. (2018) observed increased parietal activity in response to an intermittent visuomotor perturbation, raising the possibility that the parietal cortex could subserve this change in motor behavior. The goal of the present study was to causally test this hypothesis. Human participants (N = 28) reached toward one of two visual targets located on either side of a fixation point, while being pseudorandomly submitted to a visuomotor rotation. On half of all rotation trials, single-pulse transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) was applied over the right (N = 14) or left (N = 14) parietal cortex 150 ms after visual feedback provision. To determine whether TMS influenced the postperturbation bias, reach direction was compared on trials that followed rotation with (RS + 1) and without (R + 1) TMS. It was hypothesized that interfering with parietal activity would reduce the movement bias following rotated trials. Results revealed a significant and robust postrotation directional bias compared with both rotation and null rotation trials. Contrary to our hypothesis, however, neither left nor right parietal stimulation significantly impacted the postrotation bias. These data suggest that the parietal areas targeted here may not be critical for perturbation-induced motor output changes to emerge.

Impact of Mild Hypohydration on 100 m Front Crawl Performance and Starting Block Peak Force Production in Competitive University-Level Swimmers.

Unstructured, ad libitum drinking may predispose some athletes to start exercise already slightly hypohydrated (decreased body water). The impact of pre-exercise mild hypohydration on subsequent swimming performance is still unknown. Hence, the goal of this study was to examine its effect on peak force production on the starting block and 100 m front crawl swimming performance in competitive university-level swimmers. At least one hour after having been passively exposed to heat where a body mass loss of 1.5% was induced or euhydration (normal body water) maintained, nine participants (age: 22 ± 2 years) underwent an assessment of their peak force production on the starting block and 100 m front crawl performance. One hour following hypohydration, rectal temperature had returned to baseline in each condition. Urine osmolality and specific gravity were higher (p < 0.05) with hypohydration than euhydration (995 ± 65 vs. 428 ± 345 mOsmol/kg; 1.027 ± 0.003 vs. 1.016 ± 0.007 g/mL) prior to exercise testing, as was perceived thirst. Swimming performance (p = 0.86) and peak force production (p = 0.72) on the starting block did not differ between the hypohydration and euhydrated condition (63.00 ± 4.26 vs. 63.09 ± 4.52 s; 1322 ± 236 vs. 1315 ± 230 N). The current results indicate that mild hypohydration, which may occur with ad libitum drinking, does not impede peak force production on the starting block and 100 m front crawl performance in university-level competitive swimmers. Planned drinking is not required prior to such an event.

Theta-band EEG Activity over Sensorimotor Regions is Modulated by Expected Visual Reafferent Feedback During Reach Planning.

Activity in the primary motor cortex (M1) during reach planning is known to be correlated with the upcoming kinetics and kinematics of the hand. Yet recent work using visual-motor dissociation tasks suggests that M1 activity is also correlated with the visual consequences of an action, independent of the actual hand displacement. The goal of the present work was to investigate whether oscillatory activity over sensorimotor regions is modulated by the expectancy of visual reafferent feedback during reach planning. While recording electroencephalography (EEG), participants executed hand-reaching movements in a single direction (i.e., straight-ahead of midline) throughout the entire experiment. Visual feedback of the hand was provided with a cursor and was manipulated. Specifically, before each trial, participants were precued as to the nature of the upcoming visual feedback, which could be spatially congruent with the hand, rotated leftward or rightward by 20° or not provided at all. Results revealed that planning-related EEG activity at contralateral central electrodes was strongly modulated in the theta-band (3-7 Hz) depending on whether visual feedback would be available or not. In contrast, contralateral beta-band (15-30 Hz) activity did not differ across conditions. These results demonstrate that low-frequency oscillatory dynamics during reach planning depend upon the upcoming availability of visual feedback. This may relate to predicting the visual consequences of the movement or to setting different feedback gains necessary for visually guided vs. non-visually guided movements.