Acquisition Of Coordination Research Articles

Cerebellar control of targeted tongue movements

AbstractThe cerebellum is critical for coordinating movements related to eating, drinking and swallowing, all of which require proper control of the tongue. Cerebellar Purkinje cells can encode tongue movements, but it is unclear how their simple spikes and complex spikes induce changes in the shape of the tongue that contribute to goal‐directed movements. To study these relations, we recorded and stimulated Purkinje cells in the vermis and hemispheres of mice during spontaneous licking from a stationary or moving water spout. We found that Purkinje cells can encode rhythmic licking with both their simple spikes and complex spikes. Increased simple spike firing during tongue protrusion induces ipsiversive bending of the tongue. Unexpected changes in the target location trigger complex spikes that alter simple spike firing during subsequent licks, adjusting the tongue trajectory. Furthermore, we observed increased complex spike firing during behavioural state changes at both the start and the end of licking bouts. Using machine learning, we confirmed that alterations in Purkinje cell activity accompany licking, with different Purkinje cells often exerting heterogeneous encoding schemes. Our data highlight that directional movement control is paramount in cerebellar function and that modulation of the complex spikes and that of the simple spikes are complementary during acquisition and execution of sensorimotor coordination. These results bring us closer to understanding the clinical implications of cerebellar disorders during eating, drinking and swallowing. imageKey points When drinking, mice make rhythmic tongue movements directed towards the water source. Cerebellar Purkinje cells can fire rhythmically in tune with the tongue movements. Purkinje cells encode changes in the position of the water source with complex spikes. Purkinje cell simple spike firing affects the direction of tongue movements. Purkinje cells that report changes in the position of the target can also adjust movements in the right direction.

Optimization Effectiveness of Multi-Intelligence Consistent Energy System Based on Digital Advertising and Data Analysis

This paper introduces a novel approach to address the issue of overestimation of state-action values in reinforcement learning algorithms based on the Q-framework. It integrates a dual-layer Q-learning algorithm with a grey wolf intelligent optimization method, enabling rapid search for optimal allocations in unknown search spaces. This integration results in the development of a multi-agent collaborative Area-Grid Coordination (A-GC) strategy, termed the grey wolf double Q (GWDQ) strategy, tailored for multi-area energy interconnection scenarios. The proposed GWDQ strategy is evaluated through simulation experiments on comprehensive energy system models, including mixed gas turbine systems, Combined Cooling, Heating, and Power (CCHP) systems, and a multi-area energy-interconnected Northeast power grid model. A centralized architecture is established to analyze the optimization effects of digital advertising. The performance of the GWDQ strategy is compared with traditional reinforcement learning algorithms through simulation and empirical data validation. Results indicate that the GWDQ strategy exhibits stronger learning capabilities, improved stability, and enhanced control performance compared to traditional methods. It demonstrates superior optimization for digital advertising and enables swift acquisition of optimal coordination in A-GC processes across multiple regions. Additionally, the paper analyzes the environmental and economic impacts of the proposed strategy.

Age related progression of lower limb coordination during gait in children with cerebral palsy without a history of surgical intervention

Walking requires precise movement between body segments, referred to as intersegmental coordination, which is an important factor in efficient motor performance. For children with cerebral palsy (CP), who often demonstrate an impaired neuromuscular system, intersegmental coordination has been shown to be different when compared to their typically developed (TD) peers. However, how intersegmental coordination changes over time in these children is unclear. The aim of this study was to quantify age-related changes in intersegmental coordination in children with bilateral CP without a history of surgical intervention and to compare to control groups of children with TD of similar age, weight, and height. A retrospective analysis of 162 children with bilateral CP who had a baseline and follow-up 3D gait assessment, and no history of surgical intervention, was conducted. Two age, weight, and height control groups of children with TD were included. A full 3-dimensional kinematic analysis was performed, and continuous relative phase analysis of the thigh-shank and shank-foot, while walking at a self-selected walking speed, was used to measure intersegmental coordination. Differences were present for children with CP compared to children with TD at baseline for thigh-shank intersegmental coordination. However, children with CP demonstrated a change over time with a move towards TD patterns at follow-up assessment. This study provides insights into the acquisition and stabilisation of intersegmental coordination between children with CP and TD.

Fundamentos teóricos del aprendizaje de la coordinación motriz

En la formación de la capacidad motora, tanto las capacidades condicionales como las coordinativas son componentes esenciales. Sin embargo, frecuentemente se considera que la coordinación motriz, al igual que las capacidades condicionales, se desarrolla. El objetivo del presente artículo es fundamentar la adquisición de la coordinación motriz como un producto del aprendizaje por parte de los distintos componentes responsables de la regulación y conducción de la acción motriz, no del desarrollo. Por medio de la aplicación de los métodos teóricos: analítico-sintético, deductivo-inductivo, se concluye que la adquisición de la coordinación motriz es producto de las conexiones interneuronales a través de las cuales se procesa la información que es almacenada en la memoria neuromuscular para la formación de la imagen del gesto motor y su reproducción o ejecución. Por tal motivo es pertinente afirmar que la coordinación motriz se aprende.

An inverse optimization approach to understand human acquisition of kinematic coordination in bimanual fine manipulation tasks

Tasks that require the cooperation of both hands and arms are common in human everyday life. Coordination helps to synchronize in space and temporally motion of the upper limbs. In fine bimanual tasks, coordination enables also to achieve higher degrees of precision that could be obtained from a single hand. We studied the acquisition of bimanual fine manipulation skills in watchmaking tasks, which require assembly of pieces at millimeter scale. It demands years of training. We contrasted motion kinematics performed by novice apprentices to those of professionals. Fifteen subjects, ten novices and five experts, participated in the study. We recorded force applied on the watch face and kinematics of fingers and arms. Results indicate that expert subjects wisely place their fingers on the tools to achieve higher dexterity. Compared to novices, experts also tend to align task-demanded force application with the optimal force transmission direction of the dominant arm. To understand the cognitive processes underpinning the different coordination patterns across experts and novice subjects, we followed the optimal control theoretical framework and hypothesize that the difference in task performances is caused by changes in the central nervous system’s optimal criteria. We formulated kinematic metrics to evaluate the coordination patterns and exploit inverse optimization approach to infer the optimal criteria. We interpret the human acquisition of novel coordination patterns as an alteration in the composition structure of the central nervous system’s optimal criteria accompanied by the learning process.

The Tentacular Strike Behavior in Squid: Functional Interdependency of Morphology and Predatory Behaviors During Ontogeny

This study examines the relationship between morphology and predatory behaviors to evaluate the ontogeny of the specialized tentacular strike (TS) in Doryteuthis opalescens squid reared under laboratory conditions [hatching to 80 day-old; 2–16 mm mantle length (ML)]. Ontogenetic morphological changes in the arm-crown and the role played by the arms and tentacles during predatory behavior was correlated with prey types captured and revealed interconnected morphological and behavior traits that enabled paralarvae to perform the TS. Hatchlings have a poorly developed arm-crown and tentacles that resemble and function as arms, in which tentacular clubs (suckerfull non-contractile portion) and stalks (suckerless contractile portion) have not yet formed. Only a basic attack (BA) behavior was observed, involving arms and tentacles, which were not ejected during prey capture. A more elaborated behavior, the arm-net (AN) was first employed by 30 day-old (>4.7 mm ML) paralarvae, in which the tentacles were eject down, but not toward the prey. The TS was first observed in 40–50 day-old (6.7–7.8 mm ML) squid, which stay stationary by sustainable swimming prior to ejecting the tentacles toward the prey. Thus, the ability to perform sustainable swimming and acquisition of swimming coordination (schooling behavior) are prerequisites for the expression of the TS. The arms played the same roles after prey was captured: hold, subdue and manipulate the prey, while the actions performed by the tentacles truly defined each behavior. Prey size captured increased with increasing squid size. Morphometric data showed that hatchlings have little ability of elongating their tentacles, but this ability increases significantly with size. Squid older than 40 days could elongate their tentacles up to 61% of their ML, whereas early paralarvae 13% on average. Paralarvae were frequently observed elongating and contracting their tentacles, while not attempting to capture prey, which could perhaps serve to adjust muscle activity and development, while specializations for the strike – stalks, clubs, muscle fibers, arm-crown and swimming coordination – are still being developed. The expression of the TS is constrained by development in early paralarvae as it involves interdependency of morphology and behavior and as such, represents a major developmental milestone in the early life history of squid.

Search Strategies in the Perceptual-Motor Workspace and the Acquisition of Coordination, Control, and Skill.

In this paper we re-visit and elaborate-on the theoretical framework of learning as searching within the perceptual-motor workspace for a solution to the task. The central focus is the nature of search strategies to locate and create stable equilibrium regions in the perceptual-motor workspace and how these strategies relate to the emergent movement forms in the acquisition of coordination, control, and skill. In the ecological theory of perception and action, the enhanced stability of performance occurs through the attunement of the perceptual systems to the task dynamics together with modifications of action as task and intrinsic dynamics cooperate and/or compete. Thus, through practice in this search process, individuals adapt to the pick-up of task relevant perceptual variables and change their movement form according to the stability of the performed action and its outcome in relation to the task demands. Contemporary experimental findings have revealed features of the search process given the interaction of individual intrinsic dynamics in the context of task requirements and principles that drive the change – e.g., exploitation of more tolerant task-space solutions and emergence of compensatory mechanisms. Finally, we outline how the search strategy framework relates to traditional learning-related phenomena: including the dynamical pathways of learning, learning curves, factors of learning, individuality, motor development, and sport and rehabilitation interventions.

Hoatzin nestling locomotion: Acquisition of quadrupedal limb coordination in birds.

The evolution of flight in birds involves (i) decoupling of the primitive mode of quadrupedal locomotor coordination, with a new synchronized flapping motion of the wings while conserving alternating leg movements, and (ii) reduction of wing digits and loss of functional claws. Our observations show that hoatzin nestlings move with alternated walking coordination of the four limbs using the mobile claws on their wings to anchor themselves to the substrate. When swimming, hoatzin nestlings use a coordinated motion of the four limbs involving synchronous or alternated movements of the wings, indicating a versatile motor pattern. Last, the proportions of claws and phalanges in juvenile hoatzin are radically divergent from those in adults, yet strikingly similar to those of Archaeopteryx. The locomotor plasticity observed in the hoatzin suggests that transitional forms that retained claws on the wings could have also used them for locomotion.

Spatial decision support systems (SDSS) and software applications for earthquake disaster management with special reference to Turkey

Earthquake disasters pose significant risks and remain a serious threat for millions of people causing a devastating loss of lives and damage to the infrastructure resulting in huge socio-economic and environmental losses in many regions worldwide. In the last decade, recent major and catastrophic earthquake occurrences have underscored the critical importance of the increasing need for effective disaster management in considering appropriate planning, responses and strategies, with time and complex decision-making, being vital across the four phases of the disaster and emergency management (DEM) life cycle-preparedness, mitigation, response and recovery. In this paper, selected spatial decision support systems (SDSSs) related to the geographic information system-based applications in earthquake DEM, ranging from scenario or simulation based, early warning and rapid response and loss estimation systems, have been analysed. These have been generalised into global systems to include HAZTURK, QLARM, SELENA, DBELA, CATS, PAGER and regional and local systems comprising of ELER, HAZUS-MH, KOERILoss, MAEviz, EQRM and LNECLOSS. From the analysis of SDSS usage worldwide, but especially in Turkey, HAZTURK has been recommended for implementation of earthquake risk and loss estimation studies in Turkey based on its significant comparative advantages over other SDSSs and the suitability and applicability to the local conditions of Turkey, which have been discussed in this research. Key challenges to be addressed, ranging from issues in spatial data acquisition, quality, interoperability, data exchange and lack of coordination among associated institutions involved in earthquake DEM and recommendations, as well as future functional improvements and developments of HAZTURK software, have been characterised for successful implementation in Turkey.

Realisation of voicing by French-speaking CI children after long-term implant use: An acoustic study

ABSTRACTStudies of speech production in French-speaking cochlear-implanted (CI) children are very scarce. Yet, difficulties in speech production have been shown to impact the intelligibility of these children. The goal of this study is to understand the effect of long-term use of cochlear implant on speech production, and more precisely on the coordination of laryngeal-oral gestures in stop production. The participants were all monolingual French children: 13 6;6- to 10;7-year-old CI children and 20 age-matched normally hearing (NH) children. We compared /p/, /t/, /k/, /b/, /d/ and /g/ in word-initial consonant-vowel sequences, produced in isolation in two different tasks, and we studied the effects of CI use, vowel context, task and age factors (i.e. chronological age, age at implantation and duration of implant use). Statistical analyses show a difference in voicing production between groups for voiceless consonants (shorter Voice Onset Times for CI children), with significance reached only for /k/, but no difference for voiced consonants. Our study indicates that in the long run, use of CI seems to have limited effects on the acquisition of oro-laryngeal coordination needed to produce voicing, except for specific difficulties located on velars. In a follow-up study, further acoustic analyses on vowel and fricative production by the same children reveal more difficulties, which suggest that cochlear implantation impacts frequency-based features (second formant of vowels and spectral moments of fricatives) more than durational cues (voicing).

Acquisition and reacquisition of motor coordination in musicians.

Precise control of movement timing plays a key role in musical performance. This motor skill requires coordination across multiple joints and muscles, which is acquired through extensive musical training from childhood. However, extensive training has a potential risk of causing neurological disorders that impair fine motor control, such as task-specific tremor and focal dystonia. Recent technological advances in measurement and analysis of biological data, as well as noninvasive manipulation of neuronal activities, have promoted the understanding of computational and neurophysiological mechanisms underlying acquisition, loss, and reacquisition of dexterous movements through musical practice and rehabilitation. This paper aims to provide an overview of the behavioral and neurophysiological basis of motor virtuosity and disorder in musicians, representative extremes of human motor skill. We also report novel evidence of effects of noninvasive neurorehabilitation that combined transcranial direct-current stimulation and motor rehabilitation over multiple days on musician's dystonia, which offers a promising therapeutic means.

The acquisition of coordination and recursion of PPS: how to fare the development of these computations?

A recursividade, um cálculo implementado através da inserção de um constituinte dentro de outro, é amplamente reconhecido como uma capacidade cognitiva fundamental. Uma discussão interessante sobre o tema gira em torno da especificidade do domínio dessa cognição, ou seja, se ela está nas bases da capacidade de linguagem ou se é parte integral de recursos cognitivos gerais e é posta em ação na linguagem como um fator externo. Naturalmente, é primordial para essa discussão saber quando a recursividade é adquirida. Este estudo quer contribuir para esta discussão ampla, concentrando-se na aquisição de uma instância recursiva - a dos sintagmas preposicionais (PPs) em Português do Brasil. Os resultados apontam para a faixa etária de 4 anos como sendo a idade em que a recursividade começa a ser processada de forma significativa.

Virtual Reality as a Tool to Learn Interpersonal Coordination: Example of Team Rowing

The success of interpersonal activities strongly depends on the coordination between our movements and those of others. Learning to coordinate with other people requires a long training time and is often limited by the difficulty of having people available at the same time and of giving them accurate and real-time feedback about their coordination. The goal of the present study was to determine in an indoor team rowing situation whether virtual-reality and motion-capture technologies can help the acquisition of interpersonal coordination. More specifically, we investigated the possibility for participants to (1) learn the skill of interpersonal coordination when training with a virtual teammate, (2) accelerate learning with real-time visual feedback, and (3) transfer this skill to synchronizing situations with a real teammate. Our results show that participants improved their coordination with both virtual and real teammates, and that this improvement was better for participants who received the feedback. Generally, our results demonstrate the interest of virtual reality for learning the coordination with other people; further, our results open promising training perspectives for team rowing but also for several other interpersonal activities.

Versatile networks of simulated spiking neurons displaying winner-take-all behavior.

We describe simulations of large-scale networks of excitatory and inhibitory spiking neurons that can generate dynamically stable winner-take-all (WTA) behavior. The network connectivity is a variant of center-surround architecture that we call center-annular-surround (CAS). In this architecture each neuron is excited by nearby neighbors and inhibited by more distant neighbors in an annular-surround region. The neural units of these networks simulate conductance-based spiking neurons that interact via mechanisms susceptible to both short-term synaptic plasticity and STDP. We show that such CAS networks display robust WTA behavior unlike the center-surround networks and other control architectures that we have studied. We find that a large-scale network of spiking neurons with separate populations of excitatory and inhibitory neurons can give rise to smooth maps of sensory input. In addition, we show that a humanoid brain-based-device (BBD) under the control of a spiking WTA neural network can learn to reach to target positions in its visual field, thus demonstrating the acquisition of sensorimotor coordination.

Planar covariation of limb elevation angles during bipedal walking in the Japanese macaque

We investigated the planar covariation of lower limb segment elevation angles during bipedal walking in macaques to elucidate the mechanisms underlying the origin and evolution of the planar law in human walking. Two Japanese macaques and four adult humans walking on a treadmill were recorded, and the time course of the elevation angles at the thigh, shank and foot segments relative to the vertical axis were calculated. Our analyses indicated that the planar law also applies to macaque bipedal walking. However, planarity was much lower in macaques, and orientations of the plane differed between the two species because of differences in the foot elevation angle. The human foot is rigidly structured to form a longitudinal arch, whereas the macaque's foot is more flexible and bends at the midtarsal region in the stance phase. This difference in midfoot flexibility between the two species studied was the main source of the difference in the planar law. Thus, the evolution of a stable midfoot in early hominins may have preceded the acquisition of the strong planar intersegmental coordination and possibly facilitated the subsequent emergence of habitual bipedal walking in the human lineage.

Anticipatory postural adjustments in children with developmental coordination disorder

The ecological relevance of this experiment lies in the fact that both types of perturbation of posture (unexpected unloading of a part of the body and anticipating the postural consequences of a self-induced change in load) occur frequently in daily life. The first elicits reflexes that are fast but coarse, being organized mainly at a spinal level; the second a response that is precise and optimally timed to the perturbation as the time and load of the perturbation is known in advance. The article raised several thoughts and questions relating to the development of control of movement. The first is ‘Where in the brain do we process the information needed to predict the postural consequences that we need to react upon?’ Acknowledging that brain functionality is generally supported by a wider network, there is strong evidence that the cerebellum and the parietal lobe are involved in predicting the sensory consequences of movement, i.e. the efference copy or internal model. Their differential roles in prediction, however, are not clear. 3 A study of patients with cerebellar lesions provides evidence of cerebellar involvement. They show poorly timed anticipatory postural adjustments beginning earlier than in healthy participants. Adaptation of the anticipatory response and the acquisition of a novel coordination requires

Does Quality of Primary Care Vary by Level of Training in Pediatric Resident Continuity Practices?

The aim of this study was to compare parental perception of quality of care provided by first- versus third-year pediatric residents who served as their children's primary care providers. The Parents' Perception of Primary Care (P3C) survey was administered to all parents who identified a pediatric resident as a primary care provider at 19 Continuity Research Network (CORNET) sites. Parent survey scores were compared between those identifying first-year pediatric residents (PL-1) versus third-year pediatric residents (PL-3) as care providers by using t tests and linear regression modeling, as well as item-specific chi-square analysis and logistic regression. Comparing the responses of the 347 parents who identified a PL-3 resident and the 360 parents who identified a PL-1 resident as their child's primary care provider, those who identified a PL-3 resident rated their childrens overall care higher, with a mean score of 79.2 (95% confidence interval [95% CI] 77.5-80.8) as compared to 75.9 (95% CI 74.4-77.3); P < .05. This disparity was primarily due to differences in the longitudinal continuity domain. Comparisons of the other domains of communication, comprehensiveness, access, contextual knowledge, and coordination showed no statistically significant differences between the 2 groups. Parents rated PL-3 residents as having greater knowledge in behavioral counseling and coordination with schools than PL-1 residents. Parents rated residents at both training levels very highly for the quality of care provided. PL-3 residents had higher longitudinal continuity scores and were perceived to have greater knowledge about behavioral counseling and coordination of care with schools. Further research will need to elucidate strategies to improve earlier resident acquisition of coordination and behavior management skills.

Characterization of an immunodeficient mouse model of mucopolysaccharidosis type I suitable for preclinical testing of human stem cell and gene therapy

Mucopolysaccharidosis type I (MPS-I or Hurler syndrome) is an inherited deficiency of the lysosomal glycosaminoglycan (GAG)-degrading enzyme α- l-iduronidase (IDUA) in which GAG accumulation causes progressive multi-system dysfunction and death. Early allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) ameliorates clinical features and extends life but is not available to all patients, and inadequately corrects its most devastating features including mental retardation and skeletal deformities. To test novel therapies, we characterized an immunodeficient MPS-I mouse model less likely to develop immune reactions to transplanted human or gene-corrected cells or secreted IDUA. In the liver, spleen, heart, lung, kidney and brain of NOD/SCID/MPS-I mice IDUA was undetectable, and reduced to half in heterozygotes. MPS-I mice developed marked GAG accumulation (3–38-fold) in these organs. Neuropathological examination showed GM 3 ganglioside accumulation in the striatum, cerebral peduncles, cerebellum and ventral brainstem of MPS-I mice. Urinary GAG excretion (6.5-fold higher in MPS-I mice) provided a non-invasive and reliable method suitable for serially following the biochemical efficacy of therapeutic interventions. We identified and validated using rigorous biostatistical methods, a highly reproducible method for evaluating sensorimotor function and motor skills development. This Rotarod test revealed marked abnormalities in sensorimotor integration involving the cerebellum, striatum, proprioceptive pathways, motor cortex, and in acquisition of motor coordination. NOD/SCID/MPS-I mice exhibit many of the clinical, skeletal, pathological and behavioral abnormalities of human MPS-I, and provide an extremely suitable animal model for assessing the systemic and neurological effects of human stem cell transplantation and gene therapeutic approaches, using the above techniques to measure efficacy.

Coordination changes in a discrete multi-articular action as a function of practice

This study investigated how novices re-organized motor system degrees of freedom when practicing a multi-articular discrete kicking task. Four male participants practiced a soccer chipping task to seven different target positions over 12 sessions for 4 weeks. Data from each participant indicated changes in degrees of freedom involvement as a function of practice. Further, each participant showed a different progression of change in levels of joint involvement for hip, knee and ankle in the kicking limb. Cross-correlations between joints in the kicking limb also showed different pathways of coupling and de-coupling with practice. Performance outcome scores improved and variability of intra-limb coordination decreased as a consequence of practice for all participants. Angle–angle plots also showed qualitative changes in intra-limb coordination between early and late practice sessions. Evidence suggested that foot velocity at ball contact was functionally manipulated by participants when kicking to target positions with varying height and distance constraints. Referencing data to a model of learning [Newell, K. M. (1985). Coordination, control and skill. In: Goodman, D., Franks, I., & Wilberg, R.B. (Eds.), Differing perspectives in motor learning, memory, and control. Amsterdam: North-Holland, pp. 295–317] determined that progression through different stages of learning may not be sequential and could alternate between learning stages. The present study highlighted individual differences in acquisition of coordination and control of joint motion even under similar task constraints, showing how degeneracy in movement systems facilitates learning.

Inter-Association Task Force Recommendations on Emergency Preparedness and Management of Sudden Cardiac Arrest in High School and College Athletic Programs: A Consensus Statement

To assist high school and college athletic programs prepare for and respond to sudden cardiac arrest (SCA). This consensus statement summarizes our current understanding of SCA in young athletes, defines the necessary elements for emergency preparedness, and establishes uniform treatment protocols for the management of SCA. SCA is the leading cause of death in young athletes. The increasing presence of and timely access to automated external defibrillators (AEDs) at sporting events provides a means of early defibrillation and the potential for effective secondary prevention of sudden cardiac death. An Inter-Association Task Force was sponsored by the National Athletic Trainers' Association to develop consensus recommendations on emergency preparedness and management of SCA in athletes. Comprehensive emergency planning is needed for high school and college athletic programs to ensure an efficient and structured response to SCA. Essential elements of an emergency action plan include establishing an effective communication system, training of anticipated responders in cardiopulmonary resuscitation and AED use, access to an AED for early defibrillation, acquisition of necessary emergency equipment, coordination and integration of onsite responder and AED programs with the local emergency medical services system, and practice and review of the response plan. Prompt recognition of SCA, early activation of the emergency medical services system, the presence of a trained rescuer to initiate cardiopulmonary resuscitation, and access to early defibrillation are critical in the management of SCA. In any collapsed and unresponsive athlete, SCA should be suspected and an AED applied as soon as possible for rhythm analysis and defibrillation if indicated.