The Impact of Segmental Trunk Support on Posture and Reaching While Sitting in Healthy Adults.

The authors investigated postural and arm control in seated reaches while providing trunk support at midribs and pelvic levels in adults. Kinematics and electromyography of the arm and ipsiliateral and contralateral paraspinal muscles were examined before and during reaching. Kinematics remained constant across conditions, but changes were observed in neuromuscular control. With midribs support, the ipsilateral cervical muscle showed either increased anticipatory activity or earlier compensatory muscle responses, suggesting its major role in head stabilization. The baseline activity of bilateral lumbar muscles was enhanced with midribs support, whereas with pelvic support, the activation frequency of paraspinal muscles increased during reaching. The results suggest that segmental trunk support in healthy adults modulates ipsilateral or contralateral paraspinal activity while overall kinematic outputs remain invariant.

Tai Chi and meditation-plus-exercise benefit neural substrates of executive function: a cross-sectional, controlled study.

BACKGROUND: We report the first controlled study of Tai Chi effects on the P300 event-related potential, a neuroelectric index of human executive function. Tai Chi is a form of exercise and moving meditation. Exercise and meditation have been associated with enhanced executive function. This cross-sectional, controlled study utilized the P300 event-related potential (ERP) to compare executive network neural function between self-selected long-term Tai Chi, meditation, aerobic fitness, and sedentary groups. We hypothesized that because Tai Chi requires moderate aerobic and mental exertion, this group would show similar or better executive neural function compared to meditation and aerobic exercise groups. We predicted all health training groups would outperform sedentary controls. METHODS: Fifty-four volunteers (Tai Chi, n=10; meditation, n=16; aerobic exercise, n=16; sedentary, n=12) were tested with the Rockport 1-mile walk (estimated VO2 Max), a well-validated measure of aerobic capacity, and an ecologically valid visuo-spatial, randomized, alternating runs Task Switch test during dense-array electroencephalographic (EEG) recording. RESULTS: Only Tai Chi and meditation plus exercise groups demonstrated larger P3b ERP switch trial amplitudes compared to sedentary controls. CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggest long-term Tai Chi practice, and meditation plus exercise may benefit the neural substrates of executive function.

Cross-sectional comparison of executive attention function in normally aging long-term T'ai chi, meditation, and aerobic fitness practitioners versus sedentary adults.

This cross-sectional field study documented the effect of long-term t'ai chi, meditation, or aerobic exercise training versus a sedentary lifestyle on executive function. It was predicted that long-term training in t'ai chi and meditation plus exercise would produce greater benefits to executive function than aerobic exercise. T'ai chi and meditation plus exercise include mental and physical training. Fifty-four volunteers were tested: t'ai chi (n=10); meditation+exercise (n=16); aerobic exercisers (n=16); and sedentary controls (n=12). A one-factor (group), one-covariate (age) multivariate analysis of covariance was performed. Significant main effects of group and age were found (group, 67.9%, p<0.001; age, 76.3%, p=0.001). T'ai chi and meditation practitioners but not aerobic exercisers outperformed sedentary controls on percent switch costs (p=0.001 and p=0.006, respectively), suggesting that there may be differential effects of training type on executive function.

Exploiting biomechanical degrees of freedom for fast and accurate changes in movement direction: coordination underlying quick bow reversals during continuous cello bowing.

Theoretical and empirical evidence suggests that accurate and efficient motor performance may be achieved by task-specific exploitation of biomechanical degrees of freedom. We investigate coordination of the right arm in a task requiring a sudden yet precisely controlled reversal of movement direction: bow reversals during continuous ("legato") tone production on a stringed instrument. Ten advanced or professional cello players (at least 10 years of practice) and ten age-matched novice players took part in the study. Kinematic data from the bow and the right arm were analyzed in terms of velocity and acceleration profiles, as well as temporal coordination along the arm. As expected, experts' bow velocity and acceleration profiles differed markedly from those of novice participants, with higher peak accelerations and quicker direction changes. Importantly, experts achieved the change in movement direction with a single acceleration peak while novices tended to use multiple smaller acceleration peaks. Experts moreover showed a proximal-distal gradient in timing and amplitudes of acceleration peaks, with earlier and lower-amplitude reversals at more proximal joints. We suggest that this coordination pattern allows generating high accelerations at the end effector while reducing the required joint torques at the proximal joints. This may underlie experts' ability to produce fast bow reversals efficiently and with high spatiotemporal accuracy. The findings are discussed in terms of motor control theory as well as potential implications for musicians' performance and health.

Coordination of degrees of freedom and stabilization of task variables in a complex motor skill: expertise-related differences in cello bowing.

Stringed instrument bowing is a complex sensorimotor skill, involving fine regulation of bow orientation and motion relative to the string. In this study, we characterize this skill in terms of stabilization of specific bow parameters as well as the underlying use and coordination of the degrees of freedom (DOF) of the right bowing arm. Age-matched samples of 10 advanced cellists and 10 cello novices took part in the study. Kinematic bow movement data were analyzed with respect to task variables suggested by the cello teaching literature: position and orientation of the bow relative to the string, bow velocity, and timing. Joint motion of the bowing arm was analyzed in terms of movement amplitude and inter-joint coordination (principal component analysis). As expected, novices showed poorer control of bowing parameters. In addition, novices differed markedly from advanced players in the use and coordination of the DOF of the bowing arm, with the elbow and wrist showing less overall movement and a reduced proportion of variance explained by the first principal component (PC1). In contrast, larger amounts of shoulder variance were explained by PC1 in novices compared to experts. Our findings support Bernstein's theory of graded skill acquisition, according to which early stages of motor skill learning are characterized by a "freezing" of movement DOF, while later learning stages exploit the DOF, possibly following a proximal-to-distal sequence, for improved task performance.