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Université de Fribourg

Alterations in the cortical control of standing posture during varying levels of postural threat and task difficulty

Tokuno, Craig D. ; Keller, Martin ; Carpenter, Mark G. ; Márquez, Gonzalo ; Taube, Wolfgang

In: Journal of Neurophysiology, 2018, vol. 120, no. 3, p. 1010–1016

Cortical excitability increases during the performance of more difficult postural tasks. However, it is possible that changes in postural threat associated with more difficult tasks may in themselves lead to alterations in the neural strategies underlying postural control. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to examine whether changes in postural threat are responsible for the...

Université de Fribourg

Age-dependent adaptations to anticipated and non-anticipated perturbations after balance training in children

Wälchli, Michael ; Keller, Martin ; Ruffieux, Jan ; Mouthon, Audrey ; Taube, Wolfgang

In: Human Movement Science, 2018, vol. 59, p. 170–177

Postural control undergoes rapid changes during child development. However, the influence of balance training (BT) on the compensation of perturbations has not yet been investigated in children. For this purpose, young (6.7 ± 0.6 years) and old children (12.0 ± 0.4 years) were exposed to externally induced anticipated (direction known) and non-anticipated (direction unknown)...

Université de Fribourg

Task-dependent activation of distinct fast and slow(er) motor pathways during motor imagery

Keller, Martin ; Taube, Wolfgang ; Lauber, Benedikt

In: Brain Stimulation, 2018, p. -

Background: Motor imagery and actual movements share overlapping activation of brain areas but little is known about task-specific activation of distinct motor pathways during mental simulation of movements. For real contractions, it was demonstrated that the slow(er) motor pathways are activated differently in ballistic compared to tonic contractions but it is unknown if this also holds true...

Université de Fribourg

Surround inhibition in the primary motor cortex is task-specifically modulated in non-professional musicians but not in healthy controls during real piano playing

Márquez, Gonzalo ; Keller, Martin ; Lundbye-Jensen, Jesper ; Taube, Wolfgang

In: Neuroscience, 2018, vol. 373, p. 106–112

Research has indicated that at the onset of a finger movement, unwanted contractions of adjacent muscles are prevented by inhibiting the cortical areas representing these muscles. This so-called surround inhibition (SI) seems relevant for the performance of selective finger movements but may not be necessary for tasks involving functional coupling between different finger muscles. Therefore,...

Université de Fribourg

Surround inhibition can instantly be modulated by changing the attentional focus

Kuhn, Yves-Alain ; Keller, Martin ; Lauber, Benedikt ; Taube, Wolfgang

In: Scientific Reports, 2018, vol. 8, no. 1, p. 1085

To further investigate the mechanism of surround inhibition (SI) and to determine whether adopting different attentional strategies might have an impact on the modulation of SI, the effects of adopting an external (EF) or internal focus of attention (IF) on SI and motor performance were investigated. While performing an index flexion with either an EF or IF, transcranial magnetic stimulation...

Université de Fribourg

Balance training reduces brain activity during motor simulation of a challenging balance task in older adults: an fMRI study

Ruffieux, Jan ; Mouthon, Audrey ; Keller, Martin ; Mouthon, Michaël ; Annoni, Jean-Marie ; Taube, Wolfgang

In: Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience, 2018, vol. 12, p. -

Aging is associated with a shift from an automatic to a more cortical postural control strategy, which goes along with deteriorations in postural stability. Although balance training has been shown to effectively counteract these behavioral deteriorations, little is known about the effect of balance training on brain activity during postural tasks in older adults. We, therefore, assessed...

Université de Fribourg

Preparatory cortical and spinal settings to counteract anticipated and non-anticipated perturbations

Wächli, Michael ; Tokuno, Craig D. ; Ruffieux, Jan ; Keller, Martin ; Taube, Wolfgang

In: Neuroscience, 2017, vol. 365, no. Supplement C, p. 12–22

Little is known about how the central nervous system prepares postural responses differently in anticipated compared to non-anticipated perturbations. To investigate this, participants were exposed to translational and rotational perturbations presented in a blocked (anticipated) and a random (non-anticipated) design. The preparatory setting (‘central set’) was measured by H-reflexes,...

Université de Fribourg

Behavioral and neural adaptations in response to five weeks of balance training in older adults: a randomized controlled trial

Ruffieux, Jan ; Mouthon, Audrey ; Keller, Martin ; Wälchli, Michael ; Taube, Wolfgang

In: Journal of Negative Results in BioMedicine, 2017, vol. 16, p. 11

Background: While the positive effect of balance training on age-related impairments in postural stability is well-documented, the neural correlates of such training adaptations in older adults remain poorly understood. This study therefore aimed to shed more light on neural adaptations in response to balance training in older adults.Methods: Postural stability as well as spinal reflex and...

Université de Fribourg

Is young age a limiting factor when training balance? Effects of child-oriented balance training in children and adolescents

Wälchli, Michael ; Ruffieux, Jan ; Mouthon, Audrey ; Keller, Martin ; Taube, Wolfgang

In: Pediatric Exercise Science, 2017, p. 1–26

Purpose: Balance training studies in children reported conflicting results without evidence for improvements in children under the age of eight. The aim of this study therefore was to compare balance training adaptations in children of different age groups to clarify whether young age prevents positive training outcomes.Method: The effects of five weeks of child-oriented balance training were...

Université de Fribourg

Adopting an external focus of attention alters intracortical inhibition within the primary motor cortex

Kuhn, Yves-Alain ; Keller, Martin ; Ruffieux, Jan ; Taube, Wolfgang

In: Acta Physiologica, 2017, vol. 220, no. 2, p. 289–299

Although it is well established that an external (EF) compared to an internal (IF) or neutral focus of attention enhances motor performance, little is known about the underlying neural mechanisms. This study aimed to clarify whether the focus of attention influences not only motor performance but also activity of the primary motor cortex (M1) when executing identical fatiguing tasks of the...