In: Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 2014, vol. 8, p. 972
For consciously performed motor tasks executed in a defined and constant way, both motor imagery (MI) and action observation (AO) have been shown to promote motor learning. It is not known whether these forms of non-physical training also improve motor actions when these actions have to be variably applied in an unstable and unpredictable environment. The present study therefore investigated the...
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In: Acta Physiologica, 2014, vol. 212, no. 3, p. 214–225
Aim: It is accepted that leg stiffness (Kleg) increases when surface stiffness decreases, and vice versa. However, little is known how the central nervous system fulfils this task. To understand the effect of surface stiffness on the neural control of stretch-shortening cycle movements, this study aimed to compare modulation of spinal and corticospinal excitability at distinct phases after ground...
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In: Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience, 2014, vol. 6, p. 126
Background: Although recent studies point to the involvement of the primary motor cortex in postural control, it is unknown if age-related deterioration of postural control is associated with changes in motor cortical circuits. We examined the interaction between age and sensory condition in the excitability of intracortical motor pathways as indexed by short-interval intracortical inhibition...
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In: Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science in Sports, 2014, vol. 24, no. 6, p. e456-461
High fall rates causing injury and enormous financial costs are reported for children. However, only few studies investigated the effects of balance training in children and these studies did not find enhanced balance performance in postural (transfer) tests. Consequently, it was previously speculated that classical balance training might not be stimulating enough for children to adequately...
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In: Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience, 2014, vol. 6, p. 28
Classical studies in animal preparations suggest a strong role for spinal control of posture. In humans it is now established that the cerebral cortex contributes to postural control of unperturbed and perturbed standing. The age-related degeneration and accompanying functional changes in the brain, reported so far mainly in conjunction with simple manual motor tasks, may also affect the...
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In: Cerebral Cortex, 2015, vol. 25, no. 6, p. 1629-1637
Low-frequency rTMS applied to the primary motor cortex (M1) may produce depression of motor-evoked potentials (MEPs). This depression is commonly assumed to reflect changes in cortical circuits. However, little is known about rTMS-induced effects on subcortical circuits. Therefore, the present study aimed to clarify whether rTMS influences corticospinal transmission by altering the efficiency of...
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In: PLoS ONE, 2013, vol. 8, no. 12, p. e81038
It is well known that following skill learning, improvements in motor performance may transfer to the untrained contralateral limb. It is also well known that retention of a newly learned task A can be degraded when learning a competing task B that takes place directly after learning A. Here we investigate if this interference effect can also be observed in the limb contralateral to the trained...
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In: Journal of Motor Behavior, 2013, vol. 45, no. 3, p. 271-278
The authors’ aim was to evaluate the effect of balance training on cervical joint position sense in people with subclinical neck pain. Thirty-four participants were randomly assigned to balance training or to stay active. Sensorimotor function was determined before and after 5 weeks of training by assessing the ability to reproduce the neutral head position and a predefined rotated head...
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In: European Journal of Sport Science, 2013, vol. 13, no. 1, p. 49-57
The present study investigated whether or not four weeks of supervised slackline training (SLT) performed on nylon webbing improves postural stability. Twenty-four healthy adults participated in the study and were assigned to either SLT (n=12) or a control (CON) group (n=12). The SLT group completed a four week training program, while the CON group received no training. Centre of gravity...
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In: Experimental Brain Research, 2013, p. -
It is well established that the presence of external feedback, also termed augmented feedback, can be used to improve performance of a motor task. The present study aimed to elucidate whether differential interpretation of the external feedback signal influences the time to task failure of a sustained submaximal contraction and modulates motor cortical activity. In Experiment 1, subjects had to...
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