Context-dependent motor performance is a phenomenon in which people perform better in the environmental context where they originally practiced a task. Some animal and computer simulation studies suggested that context-dependent... more
Context-dependent motor performance is a phenomenon in which people perform better in the environmental context where they originally practiced a task. Some animal and computer simulation studies suggested that context-dependent performance may be associated with neural activation of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC). This study aimed to determine the role of the DLPFC in context-dependent motor performance by perturbing the neural processing of the DLPFC with repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) in healthy adults. Thirty healthy adults were recruited into the Control, rTMS DLPFC, and rTMS Vertex groups. The participants practiced three finger sequences associated with a specific incidental context (a colored circle and a location on the computer screen). One day following practice, the rTMS groups received 1 Hz rTMS prior to the testing conditions in which the sequence-context associations remained the same as practice (SAME) or changed (SWITCH). All three groups improved significantly over practice on day one. The second day testing results showed that the DLPFC group demonstrated significantly less decrement in motor performance under the SWITCH condition than the Control and Vertex groups. This finding suggests a specific role of the DLPFC in context-dependent motor performance. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
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... PURPOSe: the aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of physical training on the reactivity of pulmonary artery rings from rats submitted to a pulmonary IR. MeTHOdS:Wistar male rats were divided into five groups named: control... more
... PURPOSe: the aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of physical training on the reactivity of pulmonary artery rings from rats submitted to a pulmonary IR. MeTHOdS:Wistar male rats were divided into five groups named: control sedentary (SD); Trained (TR); sham ...
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Persons with early-stage Parkinson's disease (EPD) do not typically experience marked functional deficits but may have difficulty with turning tasks. Studies evaluating turning have focused on individuals in advanced stages of the... more
Persons with early-stage Parkinson's disease (EPD) do not typically experience marked functional deficits but may have difficulty with turning tasks. Studies evaluating turning have focused on individuals in advanced stages of the disease. The purpose of this study was to compare postural control strategies adopted during turning in persons with EPD to those used by healthy control (HC) subjects. Fifteen persons with EPD, diagnosed within 3 years, and 10 HC participated. Participants walked 4 meters and then turned 90°. Dynamic postural control was quantified as the distance between the center of pressure (COP) and the extrapolated center of mass (eCOM). Individuals with EPD demonstrated significantly shorter COP-eCOM distances compared to HC. These findings suggest that dynamic postural control during turning is altered even in the early stages of PD.