Examining Lateralized Aspects of Motor Control Using Non-invasive Neural Stimulation

Study Summary

Motor adaptation and generalization are believed to occur via the integration of various forms of sensory feedback for a congruent representation of the body's position in space along with estimation of inertial properties of the limb segments for accurate specification of movement. Thus, motor adaptation is often studied within curated environments incorporating a "mis-match" between different sensory systems (i.e. a visual field shift via prism googles or a visuomotor rotation via virtual reality environment) and observing how motor plans change based on this mis-match. However, these adaptations are environment-specific and show little generalization outside of their restricted experimental setup. There remains a need for motor adaptation research that demonstrates motor learning that generalizes to other environments and movement types. This work could then inform physical and occupational therapy neurorehabilitation interventions targeted at addressing motor deficits.

Primary Outcome

Initial direction error, or difference between participant's fingertip direction at the timepoint of peak velocity relative to a linear path to the target. As for time frame, this is a single-visit study. Initial direction error will be compared during baseline reaching and following 20 minutes of non-invasive neural stimulation.

Conditions Studied

Interventions

• BEHAVIORAL Comparing motor adaptation reaching performance

Study Locations (1)