The difference in cortical activation pattern for complex motor skills: A functional near- infrared spectroscopy study

Seung Hyun Lee,Sang Hyeon Jin,Jinung An

doi:10.1038/s41598-019-50644-9

Seung Hyun Lee, Sang Hyeon Jin + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-50644-9

Copy DOI

Abstract

The human brain is lateralized to dominant or non-dominant hemispheres, and controlled through large-scale neural networks between correlated cortical regions. Recently, many neuroimaging studies have been conducted to examine the origin of brain lateralization, but this is still unclear. In this study, we examined the differences in brain activation in subjects according to dominant and non-dominant hands while using chopsticks. Fifteen healthy right-handed subjects were recruited to perform tasks which included transferring almonds using stainless steel chopsticks. Functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) was used to acquire the hemodynamic response over the primary sensory-motor cortex (SM1), premotor area (PMC), supplementary motor area (SMA), and frontal cortex. We measured the concentrations of oxy-hemoglobin and deoxy-hemoglobin induced during the use of chopsticks with dominant and non-dominant hands. While using the dominant hand, brain activation was observed on the contralateral side. While using the non-dominant hand, brain activation was observed on the ipsilateral side as well as the contralateral side. These results demonstrate dominance and functional asymmetry of the cerebral hemisphere.

Highlights

Human motor and sensory functions are controlled by closely related neural networks, and the cortical and subcortical structures of each neural network are involved in processing various pieces of information
There was a significant difference in brain activity during the use of the dominant and non-dominant hands while performing the chopsticks task
The existing studies on cerebral cortical activity during motor functions can be divided into two groups: studies comparing activation patterns of the cerebral cortex during simple repetitive tasks and studies on brain activation patterns during sequential exercise[20,21,22]

Summary

Introduction

Human motor and sensory functions are controlled by closely related neural networks, and the cortical and subcortical structures of each neural network are involved in processing various pieces of information. A portable, non-invasive, and inexpensive method for monitoring cerebral hemodynamic activity using near-infrared light[19], fNIRS measures the relative changes in the concentration of HbO and HbR, and it has a relatively high temporal resolution and robustness for motion compared with fMRI. Due to these advantages, fNIRS is widely used in studying rehabilitation, activated brain areas, and underlying mechanism, as well as brain plasticity. We attempted to compare the difference between the dominant and non-dominant cerebral hemisphere based on the brain activation pattern during the performance of complex tasks

Objectives

Methods

Results

Conclusion