Search results for "Motor skill"
showing 10 items of 254 documents
Brain slow waves preceding time-locked visuo-motor performance.
1993
According to previous findings (Konttinen and Lyytinen, 1992), the slow brain negativity preceding the trigger pull in rifle‐shooting tends to be decreased in successful shots among experienced marksmen, whereas no such pattern is found among inexperienced subjects. This effect was interpreted as resulting mainly from optimal arousal. However, another explanation is examined here. The aim of the experiment was to investigate slow electrocortical changes associated with motor regulation and visual aiming related to shooting performance. Four variations on a shooting task were used, in which the visual and motor components were contrasted. Motor activity related to gun stabilization was found…
Improvement and generalization of arm motor performance through motor imagery practice
2005
This study compares the improvement and generalization of arm motor performance after physical or mental training in a motor task requiring a speed-accuracy tradeoff. During the pre- and post-training sessions, 40 subjects pointed with their right arm as accurately and as fast as possible toward targets placed in the frontal plane. Arm movements were performed in two different workspaces called right and left paths. During the training sessions, which included only the right path, subjects were divided into four training groups (n = 10): (i) the physical group, subjects overtly performed the task; (ii) the mental group, subjects imagined themselves performing the task; (iii) the active cont…
Circadian Modulation of Mentally Simulated Motor Actions: Implications for the Potential Use of Motor Imagery in Rehabilitation
2008
Background. Mental practice through motor imagery improves subsequent motor performance and thus mental training is considered to be a potential tool in neuromotor rehabilitation. Objective. The authors investigated whether a circadian fluctuation of the motor imagery process occurs, which could be relevant in scheduling mental training in rehabilitation programs. Methods. The executed and imagined durations of walking and writing movements were recorded every 3 hours from 8 AM to 11 PM in healthy participants. The authors made a cosinor analysis on the temporal features of these movements to detect circadian rhythms. Temporal differences between executed and imagined movements as well as …
Manual motor speed dysfunction as a neurocognitive endophenotype in euthymic bipolar disorder patients and their healthy relatives. Evidence from a 5…
2017
Background: Few studies have examined Manual Motor Speed (MMS) in bipolar disorder (BD). The aim of this longitudinal, family study was to explore whether dysfunctional MMS represents a neurocognitive endophenotype of BD. Methods: A sample of 291 subjects, including 131 BD patients, 77 healthy first-degree relatives (BD-Rel), and 83 genetically-unrelated healthy controls (HC), was assessed with the Finger-Tapping Test (En) on three occasions over a 5-year period. Dependence of FTT on participants' age was removed by means of a lineal model of HC samples, while correcting simultaneously the time and learning effect. Differences between groups were evaluated with an ANOVA test. Results: The p…
Poor estimates of motor variability are associated with longer grooved pegboard times for middle-aged and older adults
2018
Goal-directed movements that involve greater motor variability are performed with an increased risk that the intended goal will not be achieved. The ability to estimate motor variability during such actions varies across individuals and influences how people decide to move about their environment. The purpose of our study was to identify the decision-making strategies used by middle-aged and older adults when performing two goal-directed motor tasks and to determine if these strategies were associated with the time to complete the grooved pegboard test. Twenty-one middle-aged (48 ± 6 yr; range 40–59 yr, 15 women) and 20 older adults (73 ± 4 yr; range 65–79 yr, 8 women) performed two target…
Motor imagery training: Kinesthetic imagery strategy and inferior parietal fMRI activation
2017
Motor imagery (MI) is the mental simulation of action frequently used by professionals in different fields. However, with respect to performance, well‐controlled functional imaging studies on MI training are sparse. We investigated changes in fMRI representation going along with performance changes of a finger sequence (error and velocity) after MI training in 48 healthy young volunteers. Before training, we tested the vividness of kinesthetic and visual imagery. During tests, participants were instructed to move or to imagine moving the fingers of the right hand in a specific order. During MI training, participants repeatedly imagined the sequence for 15 min. Imaging analysis was performed…
Motor Development and Physical Activity: A Longitudinal Discordant Twin-Pair Study.
2015
ntroduction : Previous longitudinal research suggests that motor proficiency in early life predicts physical activity in adulthood. Familial effects including genetic and environmental factors could explain the association, but no long-term follow-up studies have taken into account potential confounding by genetic and social family background. The present twin study investigated whether childhood motor skill development is associated with leisure-time physical activity levels in adulthood independent of family background. Methods : Altogether, 1550 twin pairs from the FinnTwin12 study and 1752 twin pairs from the FinnTwin16 study were included in the analysis. Childhood motor development wa…
Effect of childhood developmental coordination disorder on adulthood physical activity; Arvo Ylppö longitudinal study
2022
Publisher Copyright: © 2022 The Authors. Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science In Sports published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd. Individuals at risk of Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD) have low levels of physical activity in childhood due to impaired motor competence; however, physical activity levels in adulthood have not been established. This study sought to determine the impact of DCD risk on physical activity levels in adults using accelerometry measurement. Participants (n = 656) from the Arvo Ylppö Longitudinal Study cohort had their motor competence assessed at the age of five years, and their physical activity quantified via device assessment at the age of 25 years. Betwe…
Instructions for External Focus of Attention Improved Taekwondo Kicking Performance Only Among Less Skilled Youth
2022
External focus of attention (EFA) studies among children have yielded more equivocal results than have those among adults. Some investigators have found an internal focus of attention (IFA) advantage in children and have explained their results by children’s generally lower skill levels, compared to adults. According to the constrained action hypothesis, children’s lower skill levels are not yet associated with over-learned automatic movement patterns, so their motor performance is not disrupted by IFA instructions. In this study, our objective was to examine a possible interaction effect between children’s skill levels and their exposure to either IFA or EFA instructions on motor performa…
VO2max Characteristics of Elite Female Soccer Players, 1989–2007
2013
Purpose:To quantify VO2max among female competitive soccer players as a function of performance level, field position, and age. In addition, the evolution of VO2max among world-class players over an 18-y period was quantified.Methods:Female players (N = 199, 22 ± 4 y, 63 ± 6 kg, height 169 ± 6 cm), including an Olympic winning squad, were tested for VO2max at the Norwegian Olympic Training Center between 1989 and 2007.Results:National-team players had 5% higher VO2max than 1st-division players (P = .042, d = 0.4), 13% higher than 2nd-division players (P < .001, d = 1.2), and 9% higher than junior players (P = .005, d = 1.0). Midfielders had 8% higher VO2max than goalkeepers (P = .048, d …