Six weeks of transcranial direct current stimulation combined with resistance training improves motor learning in healthy young adults.

Recent studies in human motor learning have documented the involvement of higher-order somatosensory regions, specifically the rostral parietal cortex (rPC), in learning and retention, with limited participation of primary motor cortex (M1). The absence of M1 involvement suggests the recruitment of alternative frontal regions to support learning. The dorsal premotor cortex (PMd) is a primary candidate given its role in movement planning and its anatomical connectivity with rPC. However, the functional contribution of PMd to retention and the nature of its interaction with the parietal cortex-whether they operate independently or as an integrated network-remains unknown. To address this, we used a visuomotor adaptation task in which participants adapted to altered visual feedback. Following the acquisition of the motor memory, continuous theta burst stimulation (cTBS) was applied to either M1, rPC, or PMd to assess their contribution to retention. In retention tests, 24 h later, disruption of PMd led to a significant impairment, confirming its role in visuomotor learning. Disruption of rPC similarly led to impairment, whereas disruption of M1 did not. Crucially, when rPC and PMd were disrupted simultaneously to test for independent effects, the resulting impairment was no greater than when either area was disrupted alone. These findings thus indicate that these areas are functionally interconnected in a motor learning circuit, such that disruption of either node results in a similar impairment. This supports a model of adaptation and learning in humans that relies on a distributed parietal-premotor network that is not dependent on M1.NEW & NOTEWORTHY This study provides direct evidence of motor learning-related plasticity in a cortical circuit involving sensory areas in rostral parietal cortex and premotor areas in frontal cortex. Using a visuomotor adaptation paradigm with cTBS, disruption of rostral parietal or dorsal premotor cortex impairs retention, whereas disruption of primary motor cortex does not. Disrupting both regions together causes no additional impairment, suggesting an interconnected learning circuit in humans and advancing understanding of cortical substrates of motor learning.

Autonomy support and enhanced expectancy in motor learning: An investigation in older adults

Phase-amplitude coupling of slow oscillations and sleep spindles as neural marker of gross motor sequence learning and its modulation by motor imagery practice.

Muscle activation color information facilitates visual perception in action observation and motor imagery.

Optimizing human-in-the-loop training: Real-time personalized task scheduling via model predictive control.

The CNS controls movement with consistent activation patterns across muscles and motor units (MU), suggesting the presence of a relatively fixed and high-dimensional number of neural constraints on voluntary actions. In the human quadriceps, the vastus medialis (VM) and vastus lateralis (VL) contribute to the knee extensor torque and are considered a synergistic pair largely activated by shared neural inputs. However, some evidence suggests that these muscles, or even subregions within them, can be controlled independently. We investigated whether humans can dissociate neural input to VM and VL during isometric contractions. Ten participants (6 males, 4 females) received real-time feedback from multiple intramuscular electromyography (EMG) electrodes inserted into different regions of the VM and VL while attempting to activate each muscle or region selectively. Nine out of ten participants were able to separate VM and VL activity based on the intramuscular EMG feedback. However, MU decomposition from the intramuscular EMGs revealed that selective recruitment of a unique set of MUs was possible only within the proximal region of VM. In contrast, we found highly correlated activity between MUs in VL and distal VM. Correlation analyses confirmed that the proximal VM exhibited distinct activation profiles compared with both distal VM and VL, supporting the existence of compartmentalized control within VM. These findings demonstrate that it is possible to dissociate the activation of MUs within this synergistic muscle group during low-force isometric contractions.Significance Statement Humans are typically thought to lack voluntary control over individual quadriceps muscles due to a shared neural input and a common distal tendon. With real-time EMG feedback from multiple muscle implants we found that participants were able to activate distinct MU populations within vastus medialis, partially dissociating its activity from the vastus lateralis. These results reveal a relatively flexible, region-specific neural control within a pair of synergistic muscles that offers new perspectives for motor learning and targeted rehabilitation.

ABSTRACT We investigated the effects of social media use on mental fatigue, motor performance, and motor learning in adolescents aged 11 to 14 years. A total of 108 participants were randomly assigned to a Fatigue group, who used social media on their smartphones for 30 minutes, or a Control group, who watched a neutral movie for the same duration. Both groups practiced an underhand dart-throwing task and performed pre-test, post-test, 24-hour retention and transfer assessments. Mental fatigue was measured using a visual analog scale before and after the fatigue protocol and following practice. Results showed that social media use significantly increased subjective mental fatigue compared with the control condition; however, this increase did not impair motor performance or learning. Both groups improved performance during practice and maintained their skill during retention. Additional analyses revealed that changes in perceived mental fatigue during practice were unrelated to performance improvement. We conclude that, although social media use induces mental fatigue in adolescents, it does not negatively affect the acquisition or retention of a discrete motor skill.

The recovery of motor function is increasingly understood as a process influenced not only by physical training but also by perceptual and cognitive strategies. Action Observation Treatment (AOT), a neurorehabilitation approach in which patients observe goal-directed motor actions before executing them, has demonstrated clinical benefits; however, its wider implementation is hindered by a lack of standardized procedures. We present an open-access dataset of 33 upper limb gestures specifically developed to support the administration of Virtual Reality-based AOT (VR-AOT). The gestures were selected in collaboration with expert physiotherapists to ensure clinical relevance, and are provided as motion capture recordings along with Unity-based 3D animations embedded in configurable virtual scenes. The dataset is designed for flexibility, allowing users to modify parameters such as viewpoint, laterality, and repetition count. Technical validation confirms its usability and therapeutic applicability across multiple clinical and research contexts. This dataset offers a standardized yet customizable resource for developing and comparing VR-AOT protocols, with potential applications in neurorehabilitation and motor learning research.

This study aim to examines effectiveness concerning feedback based upon motor model inside of improving free throw accuracy inside of basketball plus its impact upon retention concerning skill among female student. Significance concerning this research lie inside of essential role concerning feedback inside of motor learning, particular when supported by way of accurate performance model that help learner to builds clear mental representation concerning movement execution.Experimental design were employed, involving sample concerning female student random assigned into two group. Experimental group receive feedback supported by way of motor model, including video demonstration concerning ideal plus corrected performance, while control group follow traditional instruction relying primary upon verbal explanation. Post-test were then administered to measures improvement, along alongside delayed retention test to evaluates persistence concerning learning over time. Result show statistical significant difference inside of favor concerning experimental group inside of both post-test plus retention outcome. This indicate that motor model-based feedback effective enhance performance plus support long-term skill retention. Addition, student exposed for motor model demonstrate greater ability to recognizes plus corrects error plus show deeper understanding concerning correct technique.Study recommend integrating motor modeling strategy plus technology-based feedback into sport education to accelerates learning plus improves outcome across educational context.

Active inference is a domain-general theory of brain functioning which reconceptualises the perception-action interface in terms of a common process of minimization of sensory prediction errors. Such accounts have been extensively applied to the control of manual action guided by visual sensory feedback; however, they have received relatively little explicit attention in speech motor control. This is despite speech providing a critical test case, arguably being one of the most crucial and intricate of human sensorimotor functions. The application of active inference to speech motor control can allow crosspollination of decades of work from neighbouring disciplines, and could highlight where speech motor control mechanisms may be similar to, or differ from, those in other motor control domains, by establishing mechanistic explanation in common terms. We present here the first detailed description of an active inference framework of auditorily guided speech production. We compare the architecture of active inference models to existing computational models of speech motor control, and describe an active inference account of how compensation and adaptation result from perturbations of auditory feedback. We highlight several unique aspects of active inference, as well as emerging hypotheses for future empirical work. In particular, active inference accounts emphasise a role for proprioception in speech motor learning, and offer the potential to model the effects of other voices on speech production in phenomena such as phonetic convergence.

Protein misfolding and aggregation of alpha-synuclein (α-syn) are central to Parkinson's disease (PD). Current therapies provide only symptomatic relief without addressing α-syn aggregation. Chemical chaperones such as 4-phenylbutyrate (4-PBA) and tauroursodeoxycholic acid (TUDCA) show promise but are limited by toxicity and high dosage requirements. This study aimed to develop a safer, more effective multi-target compound to counter α-syn aggregation and related cellular stress. To design, synthesize, and evaluate a novel multi-target chemical chaperone, IP-045, for inhibiting α-syn aggregation and ameliorating PD pathology. A structure-based virtual screen of >11,000 compounds against the α-syn fibril structure (PDB ID: 6UFR) identified four candidates with favorable pharmacokinetics. In vitro aggregation assays and SHSY5Y cell models assessed anti-aggregation activity, cytotoxicity, and modulation of rotenone-induced α-syn expression, oxidative stress, and ER stress. The lead compound, IP-045 (2-Fluorophenyl 3-(1H-indol-3-yl)propanoate), was synthesized and tested in a rotenone-induced PD rat model through behavioral, histological, and molecular analyses. IP-045 strongly inhibited α-syn aggregation in vitro with minimal cytotoxicity. In cell-based assays, it reduced reactive oxygen species, ER stress markers, and α-syn expression. In vivo, IP-045 improved motor coordination, memory, and cognitive performance. Immunohistochemistry showed reduced Ser129-phosphorylated α-syn and restored tyrosine hydroxylase. IP-045 also suppressed apoptotic and pro-inflammatory markers in the substantia nigra, confirming multi-target neuroprotective activity. IP-045 demonstrated favorable anti-aggregation and neuroprotective effects across in vitro and in vivo models, indicating its potential as a promising lead compound with chaperone-like activity for targeting pathological processes associated with PD. Further pharmacokinetic, toxicity, and mechanistic studies are warranted to support its future therapeutic development.

Toxocara canis is a globally distributed parasite that infects dogs and other canids, shedding eggs into the environment. Humans become accidental hosts by ingesting infective eggs, leading to syndromes such as visceral, ocular and neurotoxocariasis - the latter being poorly understood. Neurotoxocariasis has been proposed to be associated with epilepsy, cognitive impairment and schizophrenia, but its pathomechanism remains unclear. Here, we combine spatial transcriptomics, single-nucleus RNA sequencing, lipidomics and behavioural assays in a mouse model to characterise the host-parasite interface in the brain. T. canis larvae induce region-specific neural injury, vascular remodelling, and spatially confined immune responses, accompanied by parasite transcriptional programmes dominated by immunomodulatory factors and developmental regulators. Infected mice exhibit impairments in motor learning and memory, coinciding with transcriptional changes in neurons and glia. These findings provide mechanistic insight into neurotoxocariasis and demonstrate the utility of the mouse model as a platform to investigate helminth-induced neurological disorders.

Performance and mental workload dynamics during in-person and virtually-based remote learning of action sequences

People with Parkinson disease (PD) experience impaired motor learning. Although numerous studies have shown that self-controlled feedback can facilitate motor learning in healthy young adults, whether similar benefits can be observed in people with PD has been less investigated. This study thus aimed to examine whether self-controlled feedback could benefit motor learning for individuals with PD, and to determine the associated behavioral and neurophysiological mechanisms. Thirty-two participants with PD, matched in pairs, were recruited into a self-control group (SELF) and a yoked group (YOKE) to practice a finger-pressing trajectory-matching task. All participants visited the laboratory on day 1 (D1) and day 2 (D2) to practice the trajectory-matching task. The SELF group could decide when to receive feedback, whereas the YOKE group received feedback based on their counterparts' choices. Retention tests were performed on D2 after practice and on day 7 (D7). Additionally, motivation questionnaires, error estimation ability, and corticomotor excitability were examined. Both groups showed improvements in the trajectory-matching task throughout practice. On D7, the SELF group retained its trajectory-matching task performance and showed an increase in corticomotor excitability, whereas these changes were not observed in the YOKE group. There were no significant group differences in the motivation questionnaire or error estimation results. Self-controlled feedback facilitated motor learning accompanied by increased corticomotor excitability in people with PD. Clinicians may consider incorporating self-control practices into the PD rehabilitation regimen to enhance training benefits. NCT05960331.

ABSTRACT Background Motor learning in older adults may be influenced by both practice structure and individual personality traits. Contextual interference (CI) theory and personality-based arousal regulation accounts suggest that introversion and extraversion could moderate the effects of blocked versus random practice. Objective To examine whether personality traits (introversion vs. extraversion) moderate the impact of practice structure (blocked vs. random) on motor learning in older women. Methods Forty-eight women (mean age = 68 years) were classified as introverted or extroverted. Participants completed golf putting tasks under either blocked or random practice schedules. Performance was assessed across four phases: pretest, acquisition, transfer, and retention. Results Extroverted women practicing under random schedules demonstrated superior performance in delayed transfer compared to other groups. Conclusions: Findings diverge from evidence in younger adults, suggesting that aging may alter the interaction between personality and CI. Results highlight the importance of lifespan-sensitive approaches to individualized motor learning interventions.

Learning a new motor skill requires a delicate balance between exploring new motor control solutions and exploiting known solutions. A commonly observed learning strategy that may reflect the interplay between exploration and exploitation involves holding a joint or a motor parameter constant while varying other degrees of freedom. By examining the relative variability between two deciding parameters of a novel single-joint motor learning task, we quantify usage of this strategy and relate it to motor learning and performance. In addition, we ask how experimentally induced motor variability, in the form of a persistent, variable visual feedback delay, affects the exploration and exploitation trade-off and usage of this strategy. The results showed participants alternated between periods where one motor control parameter was suppressed while the other varied. The transition away from this strategy is linked to motor performance. Furthermore, variable visual feedback delay slowed down this transition, thus hurting motor performance. We suggest that uncertainty from the variable feedback delay interferes with the effectiveness of the exploration of potential control solutions, resulting in a shift to a more systematic strategy. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).

The present study reports the natural statistics of everyday motor experiences, measured throughout the day using wearable inertial sensors. Using a large data set of infants' real-time upright, sitting, prone, supine, and held experiences, we investigated how age and motor skill relate to the frequency and bout structure of body position. Our analyses replicated past survey and observational work by showing that older infants (11-14 months) spend more time sitting and upright compared with younger infants (4-7 months) and that the emergence of sitting and walking skills may contribute to these age differences. Furthermore, our analyses were novel in revealing that a larger share of younger infants' bouts were longer-lasting several minutes and even over an hour. In contrast, older infants had a greater share of shorter bouts less than 1 min long, suggesting they experience a greater mix of positions. Within older infants, bout duration distributions also varied according to walking skill. We discuss the importance of understanding the natural statistics of motor experiences at different timescales for characterizing infants' opportunities for motor learning and perceptual-motor exploration in daily life. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).

The effect of motor imagery on corticospinal excitability and inhibition in healthy adults: a systematic review.

Effects of gender stereotype threat targeting the "Group" versus the "Self" on motor performance and learning in female futsal players with high sport identification.