Skilled Movements Research Articles

The deep cerebellar nuclei to striatum disynaptic connection contributes to skilled forelimb movement

Cerebellar-thalamo-striatal synaptic communication has been implicated in a wide range of behaviors, including goal-directed actions, and is altered in cerebellar dystonia. However, its detailed connectivity through the thalamus and its contribution to the execution of forelimb movements is unclear. Here, we use trans-synaptic and retrograde tracing, exvivo slice recordings, and optogenetic inhibitions during the execution of unidirectional or sequential joystick displacements to demonstrate that the deep cerebellar nuclei (DCN) influence the dorsal striatum with a very high probability. We show that this mainly occurs through the centrolateral (CL), parafascicular (PF), and ventrolateral (VL) nuclei of the thalamus, observing that the DCN→VL and DCN→CL pathways contribute to the execution of unidirectional forelimb displacements while the DCN→PF and DCN→thalamo→striatal pathways contribute to the appropriate execution of forelimb reaching and sequential displacements. These findings highlight specific contributions of the different cerebellar-thalamo-striatal paths to the control of skilled forelimb movement.

The Element of Surprise: How Predictive Processing Can Help Coach Practitioners Understand and Develop Skilled Movement in Sport Settings

Predictive processing provides a framework for explaining how the brain solves problems of perception, decision making, and movement control by forming predictions, or plausible explanations, for what is happening in an approximately optimal manner. The strength or confidence of the prediction subjectively shapes whether something “surprising” has happened and whether a person’s perceptions and actions require adjustment. We put forward how predictive processing accounts of skill development emphasise predictive processes of action and perception that allows coaches who identify as “sporting ecology designers,” to better understand how to select the right action opportunities (i.e., affordances) to include in their training designs. We describe how motor learning can be incorporated into training designs through the element of “surprise” or the unexpected variations from the already established internal patterns that athletes have learned over time in a range of performance and practice settings. We conclude by presenting an applied example of coaching the backdoor cut manoeuver in basketball using predictive processing techniques, outlining how aspects of athlete knowledge, intentionality, memories, decision making, and prior experience cognitively coalesce during a coach-led training design to produce stable, yet flexible, movement couplings in a sport-based setting.

Retracted: Skill Movement Trajectory Recognition of Freestyle Skiing U-Shaped Field Based on Deep Learning and Multitarget Tracking Algorithm.

[This retracts the article DOI: 10.1155/2022/7992045.].

A rare anatomical variation of the hand lumbrical muscles: A case report and literature review

We report a case of unusual anatomical variation and rare abnormality of the lumbrical muscles (LM) in a cadaver after dissection. Usually, the hand LM arises from the flexor digitorum profundus (FDP) tendons and inserts into the extensor hoods of the corresponding fingers. LM is fundamental in the performance of fine skillful movements of the hand.

Deep Brain Stimulation in the Subthalamic Nucleus Can Improve Skilled Forelimb Movements and Retune Dynamics of Striatal Networks in a Rat Stroke Model.

Recovery of upper limb (UL) impairment after stroke is limited in stroke survivors. Since stroke can be considered as a network disorder, neuromodulation may be an approach to improve UL motor dysfunction. Here, we evaluated the effect of high-frequency stimulation (HFS) of the subthalamic nucleus (STN) in rats on forelimb grasping using the single-pellet reaching (SPR) test after stroke and determined costimulated brain regions during STN-HFS using 2-[18F]Fluoro-2-deoxyglucose-([18F]FDG)-positron emission tomography (PET). After a 4-week training of SPR, photothrombotic stroke was induced in the sensorimotor cortex of the dominant hemisphere. Thereafter, an electrode was implanted in the STN ipsilateral to the infarction, followed by a continuous STN-HFS or sham stimulation for 7 days. On postinterventional day 2 and 7, an SPR test was performed during STN-HFS. Success rate of grasping was compared between these two time points. [18F]FDG-PET was conducted on day 2 and 3 after stroke, without and with STN-HFS, respectively. STN-HFS resulted in a significant improvement of SPR compared to sham stimulation. During STN-HFS, a significantly higher [18F]FDG-uptake was observed in the corticosubthalamic/pallidosubthalamic circuit, particularly ipsilateral to the stimulated side. Additionally, STN-HFS led to an increased glucose metabolism within the brainstem. These data demonstrate that STN-HFS supports rehabilitation of skilled forelimb movements, probably by retuning dysfunctional motor centers within the cerebral network.

Re-examining the integration of routine and adaptive expertise: there is no such thing as routine from a motor control perspective.

The study of adaptive expertise in health professions education has focused almost exclusively on cognitive skills, largely ignoring the processes of adaptation in the performance of precision technical skills. We present a focused review of literature to argue that repetitive practice is much less repetitive than often perceived. Our main thesis is that all skilled movement reflects components of adaptive expertise. Through an overview of perspectives from the field of motor control and learning, we emphasize the interplay between the inherent noisiness of the human motor architecture and the stability of motor skill performances. Ultimately, we challenge the very idea of routine. Our goal is threefold: to reconcile common misconceptions about the rote nature of routine precision skill performance, to offer educators principles to enhance adaptive expertise as an outcome of precision skill training, and to expand the conversation between 'routine' and 'adaptive' forms of expertise in health professions education.

Relationship between children's skills in school subject learning and athletic ability.

Japanese elementary school children are trained in arts and crafts, music, arithmetic, the Japanese language, life environment studies, physical education, and so on. Children must learn through doing as they develop physically, because the range of activities in their daily lives is still narrow. Subject learning is inseparable from daily life. Teachers should plan lessons with an awareness of the physicality of activities. Therefore, this study clarified the relationship between the ability for skillful and quick physical movement and subject learning among Japanese elementary school students. For the second to fourth grades of elementary school, the measurement results and subject evaluation (skill) were compared at the individual level. Students were divided into a group with high grades in subject learning and one with middle and lower grades, and a t-test was conducted to observe if there was a significant difference in the records of two physical activities: repeated side jump and softball throw. Significant difference was found for repeated side jumps depending on whether the arts and crafts grades were high for all children in grades 2-4. Additionally, there was a significant difference in softball throwing records between the second and third graders, depending on whether the children's performance in arts and crafts was high. Conversely, there was no significant difference between the second to fourth grade children's musical scores and repeated side jump records. There was a negative correlation between sophomore and senior year music performances and the softball throwing record. Thus, the development of children's dexterity is related to subject learning. Considering that elementary school teachers spend sufficient time with children on a daily basis teaching subjects such as physical education and music, it may be beneficial for them to be aware of dexterity's importance across multiple subjects. Furthermore, it allows for an approach that engages children in physical activities from early childhood which can help in preparing them for learning a variety of subjects in school.

The relationship between motor pathway damage and flexion-extension patterns of muscle co-excitation during walking.

Mass flexion-extension co-excitation patterns during walking are often seen as a consequence of stroke, but there is limited understanding of the specific contributions of different descending motor pathways toward their control. The corticospinal tract is a major descending motor pathway influencing the production of normal sequential muscle coactivation patterns for skilled movements. However, control of walking is also influenced by non-corticospinal pathways such as the corticoreticulospinal pathway that possibly contribute toward mass flexion-extension co-excitation patterns during walking. The current study sought to investigate the associations between damage to corticospinal (CST) and corticoreticular (CRP) motor pathways following stroke and the presence of mass flexion-extension patterns during walking as evaluated using module analysis. Seventeen healthy controls and 44 stroke survivors were included in the study. We used non-negative matrix factorization for module analysis of paretic leg electromyographic activity. We typically have observed four modules during walking in healthy individuals. Stroke survivors often have less independently timed modules, for example two-modules presented as mass flexion-extension pattern. We used diffusion tensor imaging-based analysis where streamlines connecting regions of interest between the cortex and brainstem were computed to evaluate CST and CRP integrity. We also used a coarse classification tree analysis to evaluate the relative CST and CRP contribution toward module control. Interhemispheric CST asymmetry was associated with worse lower extremity Fugl-Meyer score (p = 0.023), propulsion symmetry (p = 0.016), and fewer modules (p = 0.028). Interhemispheric CRP asymmetry was associated with worse lower extremity Fugl-Meyer score (p = 0.009), Dynamic gait index (p = 0.035), Six-minute walk test (p = 0.020), Berg balance scale (p = 0.048), self-selected walking speed (p = 0.041), and propulsion symmetry (p = 0.001). The classification tree model reveled that substantial ipsilesional CRP or CST damage leads to a two-module pattern and poor walking ability with a trend toward increased compensatory contralesional CRP based control. Both CST and CRP are involved with control of modules during walking and damage to both may lead to greater reliance on the contralesional CRP, which may contribute to a two-module pattern and be associated with worse walking performance.

Setting up girls for success in fundamental motor skills: The role of balance in 8-10 year olds

ABSTRACT The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between postural control and fundamental motor skills in girls. An observational cross-sectional study was conducted in 47 girls, aged 8–10 years. Postural control (postural sway centre of pressure) was evaluated during tandem stance, leading with dominant and non-dominant limbs with eyes open and closed, using an AMTI force platform. Fundamental motor skills were assessed using the Test of Gross Motor Development 2nd Edition, examining total, locomotor and object control scores. Data were analysed using linear regression, adjusted for body mass index percentile and household income. For locomotor skills, significant relationships were found with a number of postural sway outcomes for adjusted and unadjusted analyses (r − 0.287 to r − 0.425, p ≤ 0.042). Total motor skill score was significantly related to postural sway in the tandem dominant eyes closed condition for unadjusted and adjusted analyses (r ≥ −0.294, p ≤ 0.04). In conclusion, our findings indicate that postural control may be important for fundamental motor skill proficiency and movement quality in pre-adolescent girls, particularly for locomotor skills. Our study provides evidence supporting the clinical practice of assessing postural control in girls presenting with motor skill deficits.

Motor control beyond reach-how humans hit a target with a whip.

Humans are strikingly adept at manipulating complex objects, from tying shoelaces to cracking a bullwhip. These motor skills have highly nonlinear interactive dynamics that defy reduction into parts. Yet, despite advances in data recording and processing, experiments in motor neuroscience still prioritize experimental reduction over realistic complexity. This study embraced the fully unconstrained behaviour of hitting a target with a 1.6-m bullwhip, both in rhythmic and discrete fashion. Adopting an object-centered approach to test the hypothesis that skilled movement simplifies the whip dynamics, the whip's evolution was characterized in relation to performance error and hand speed. Despite widely differing individual strategies, both discrete and rhythmic styles featured a cascade-like unfolding of the whip. Whip extension and orientation at peak hand speed predicted performance error, at least in the rhythmic style, suggesting that humans accomplished the task by setting initial conditions. These insights may inform further studies on human and robot control of complex objects.

Transition of distinct context-dependent ensembles from secondary to primary motor cortex in skilled motor performance.

When voluntary movements are executed under different contexts, different context-dependent signals are thought to weaken from secondary motor cortex (M2) to primary motor cortex (M1). However, it is unclear how the different contexts are processed from M2 to M1 to execute skilled movement. We conduct two-photon calcium imaging of M2 and M1 in mice performing internally generated and external-cue-triggered movements. Context dependency is consistently high in M2 L2/3 neurons and consistently low in M1 pyramidal tract neurons. By contrast, context dependency in M2 → M1 axons and M1 L2/3 neurons increases as task performance improves. In addition, the context dependency of M1 L2/3, but not M2 → M1 axons, is associated with fine-movement proficiency. The increase in context dependency correlates with stabilization of the context-dependent population activity and an increase in the neurons that strongly encode contextual and motor information. Thus, emergence of distinct context-dependent ensembles may be necessary for the context-to-motor transformation that facilitates skilled motor performance.

The pantomime of mental rotation: Left-handers are less lateralized

IntroductionThe conceptualization of skilled hand movements (praxis) may be grounded in hemispherically specialized functions. However, a left-hemispherical advantage of (tool-use) pantomime gestures and a right-hemispherical advantage of spatial gestures may be more prominent in right-handed than left-handed individuals. We therefore investigated the hypothesis that right-handed but not left-handed individuals show a superiority of the left hemisphere (/right-hand preference) for the execution of pantomime (rotation of an object) gestures as well as a right-hemispherical superiority (/left-hand preference) for gestures that depict spatial information (/positioning of an object). Methods: 20 right- and 20 left-handed participants were asked in two experiments to demonstrate with their two hands how to move tachistoscopically (in the left (LVF) or right visual hemifields (RVF)) presented geometric objects of different rotations into an identical final position. Two independent blind raters evaluated the videotaped hand gestures employing the Neuropsychological Gesture (NEUROGES) Coding System. Results: In contrast to left-handed individuals, right-handed individuals present increased pantomime - rotation gestures with the right hand and pantomime - position gestures with the left hand during stimuli presentation in either visual field. Left-handers showed significantly increased left-hand pantomime - rotation gestures during stimulus presentation within the LVF (only). Discussion: Right-handed individuals increase their pantomime - rotation gestures with the right hand to depict motion but use their left hand for pantomime - position gestures to describe spatial relations of the objects. Left-handers do not show a clear lateralization of the right and left hand with regards to either handedness or hemispherically lateralized motor functions. The hemispherical lateralization of praxis functions is therefore more pronounced in right-handed than left-handed individuals.

Parameter Testing and System of Skiing Aerial Skills under the Background of Artificial Intelligence

Skiing aerial skills are a perfect combination of gymnastics tossing technology and skiing technology. It pursues technology and aesthetics in the process of completing the action, and is a sporting event with strong skills and high viewing. However, the training of ski aerial skills is more difficult, and there is no qualified training mode, which may be detrimental to the long-term development of the overall strength of ski aerial skills. Therefore, based on the shortcomings of the current stage, this paper proposed a ski aerial skill movement detection system. The system mainly assists the MTi sensor to obtain the sports shape parameters of the skier’s sports information and then analyzes the obtained data to find out the approximate data of each parameter when the skiing succeeds and fails, as well as the relationship between acceleration and speed. The experimental results showed that the maximum resultant acceleration and resultant velocity are obtained at the lowest point of the landslide. At a certain stage of the air, the resultant acceleration is always around 10 m/s2 due to gravity. The shoulder joint angle of the skier at the moment of introduction is about 163.2° for success and about 167.6° for failure. The inclination of the trunk is about 30.4° when the action is successful at the moment of landing, while the inclination of the trunk is about 38.4° when the action fails, and the angle of the hip joint in the successful and failed actions is about 138.5° and 153.8°, respectively.

Skill Acquisition and Controller Design of Desktop Robot Manipulator Based on Audio–Visual Information Fusion

The development of AI and robotics has led to an explosion of research and the number of implementations in automated systems. However, whilst commonplace in manufacturing, these approaches have not impacted chemistry due to difficulty in developing robot systems that are dexterous enough for experimental operation. In this paper, a control system for desktop experimental manipulators based on an audio-visual information fusion algorithm was designed. The robot could replace the operator to complete some tedious and dangerous experimental work by teaching it the arm movement skills. The system is divided into two parts: skill acquisition and movement control. For the former, the visual signal was obtained through two algorithms of motion detection, which were realized by an improved two-stream convolutional network; the audio signal was extracted by Voice AI with regular expressions. Then, we combined the audio and visual information to obtain high coincidence motor skills. The accuracy of skill acquisition can reach more than 81%. The latter employed motor control and grasping pose recognition, which achieved precise controlling and grasping. The system can be used for the teaching and control work of chemical experiments with specific processes. It can replace the operator to complete the chemical experiment work while greatly reducing the programming threshold and improving the efficiency.

Activity Preference, Demographic Characteristics, and Attitudes of the Students toward Physical Education at the University of Eastern Philippines

The study aimed to determine the activity preference, demographic characteristics, and attitudes of the students toward Physical Education at the University of Eastern Philippines. Specifically, it tried to determine the demographic characteristics of the respondents in terms of age, sex, income level, year level, and body build. It also identified the students’ activity preferences and level of attitudes towards physical education activities. Furthermore, it tried to find out if there was a significant relationship between the demographic characteristic and the preference of the students in physical education. It also investigated the significant relationship between the demographic characteristics of the respondents and their attitudes towards physical education activities. Finally, it attempted to find out if a significant relationship existed between the students’ preference and their attitudes toward physical education activities. The descriptive-correlational survey design was used in this study. A research instrument patterned from Jean Marie Cando was used in gathering the data which were tabulated and analyzed using frequency counts, percentage, weighted mean, and multiple regression analysis. The findings revealed that most of the college students who were 16-17 years of age were dominated by females and were in the second-year level. Most of the students were ectomorphs. Hence, it can be said that they can be trained in a physical education activity. The UEP college students slightly preferred the activities in physical education. However, the preferred physical fitness and Philippine games considering that they can help develop strong bones and muscles needed for their growth. They slightly preferred rhythmic activities, individual/dual sports/games, team sports, and outdoor recreation. The rhythmic activities were more on folk dances, ballroom, and modern dance. They need artistry and skill in body movement. Those who had limited talents in dancing refrained from performing it. Most of the college student respondents favored physical education activities such as training for the women's Olympic team, physical fitness, callisthenic, and regular physical activities. However, some highly favored the value of physical activity as a skilled movement, as a way of participating in group activities, and to release emotional stress. This implies a favorable attitude toward physical education activities. Normally a bodybuilder needs to be trained in any form of physical body activities for a healthy and productive manpower resource.

Skill Movement Trajectory Recognition of Freestyle Skiing U-Shaped Field Based on Deep Learning and Multitarget Tracking Algorithm.

Freestyle skiing U-shaped field is a snow sport that uses double boards to perform a series of action skills in a U-shaped pool, which requires very high skills for athletes. In this era of deep learning, in order to develop a more scientific training method, this paper combines multitarget tracking algorithm and deep learning to conduct research in freestyle skiing U-shaped venue skills motion capture. Therefore, this paper combines the convolutional neural network and multitarget tracking algorithm in deep learning to study the human action recognition technology, and then uses the LSTM module to study the freestyle skiing U-shaped venue skills. Finally, this paper designs the training method of the action recognition algorithm of the freestyle U-shaped skiing skills multitarget tracking algorithm based on deep learning. This paper also designs multitarget tracking dataset experiments and model updating experiments. Based on the data of experimental analysis, the training method designed in this paper is optimized, and finally compared with the traditional training method. Compared with the traditional freestyle U-shaped skiing skills training method, the experimental results show that the training method of the freestyle U-shaped skiing skills multitarget tracking algorithm action recognition algorithm is based on deep learning designed in this paper and this improves the skill score by 14.48%. Most professional students are very satisfied with the training method designed in this paper.

Transition between individually different and common features in skilled drumming movements.

Why do professional athletes and musicians exhibit individually different motion patterns? For example, baseball pitchers generate various pitching forms, e.g., variable wind-up, cocking, and follow-through forms. However, they commonly rotate their wrists and fingers at increasingly high speeds via shoulder and trunk motions. Despite the universality of common and individually different motion patterns in skilled movements, the abovementioned question remains unanswered. Here, we focus on a motion required to hit a snare drum, including the indirect phase of task achievement (i.e., the early movement and mid-flight phases) and the direct phase of task achievement (i.e., the hit phase). We apply tensor decomposition to collected kinematic data for the drum-hitting motion, enabling us to decompose high-dimensional and time-varying motion data into individually different and common movement patterns. As a result, individually different motion patterns emerge during the indirect phase of task achievement, and common motion patterns are evident in the direct phase of task achievement. Athletes and musicians are thus possibly allowed to perform individually different motion patterns during the indirect phase of task achievement. Additionally, they are required to exhibit common patterns during the direct phase of task achievement.

Evaluation of the Dementia Apraxia Test in Parkinson’s Disease Patients

Introduction: Ideomotor apraxia, a disorder of skilled movements affecting limbs and/or face, can be seen in patients with Parkinson’s disease (PD), yet tests of apraxia in PD are rare. The aim of this project was to evaluate the psychometric properties and validity of the Dementia Apraxia Test (DATE) in a PD sample. Methods: 118 PD patients were included. Besides DATE performance, motor and non-motor burden, cognition, and activity of daily living (ADL) function were assessed. Patients were classified as cognitively impaired (n = 41) or non-cognitively impaired (n = 77). Results: Interrater reliability of the DATE (sub-)scores between video ratings and on-site ratings by the investigator was good (0.81 ≤ r_k ≤ 0.87). Items were mostly easy to perform, especially the buccofacial apraxia items, which had also low discriminatory power. DATE scores were associated with cognition and ADL function. DATE performance was confounded by motor impairment and patients’ age; however, when analysed for both cognitive groups separately, the correlation between DATE and motor performance was not significant. Discussion/Conclusion: The DATE seems to be an objective and predominantly valid apraxia screening tool for PD patients, with a few items needing revision. Due to the potential effect of motor impairment and age, standardized scores adjusting for these confounders are needed.

Hypothalamic Control of Forelimb Motor Adaptation.

The ability to perform skilled arm movements is central to everyday life, as limb impairments in common neurologic disorders such as stroke demonstrate. Skilled arm movements require adaptation of motor commands based on discrepancies between desired and actual movements, called sensory errors. Studies in humans show that this involves predictive and reactive movement adaptations to the errors, and also requires a general motivation to move. How these distinct aspects map onto defined neural signals remains unclear, because of a shortage of equivalent studies in experimental animal models that permit neural-level insights. Therefore, we adapted robotic technology used in human studies to mice, enabling insights into the neural underpinnings of motivational, reactive, and predictive aspects of motor adaptation. Here, we show that forelimb motor adaptation is regulated by neurons previously implicated in motivation and arousal, but not in forelimb motor control: the hypothalamic orexin/hypocretin neurons (HONs). By studying goal-oriented mouse-robot interactions in male mice, we found distinct HON signals occur during forelimb movements and motor adaptation. Temporally-delimited optosilencing of these movement-associated HON signals impaired sensory error-based motor adaptation. Unexpectedly, optosilencing affected neither task reward or execution rates, nor motor performance in tasks that did not require adaptation, indicating that the temporally-defined HON signals studied here were distinct from signals governing general task engagement or sensorimotor control. Collectively, these results reveal a hypothalamic neural substrate regulating forelimb motor adaptation.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT The ability to perform skilled, adaptable movements is a fundamental part of daily life, and is impaired in common neurologic diseases such as stroke. Maintaining motor adaptation is thus of great interest, but the necessary brain components remain incompletely identified. We found that impaired motor adaptation results from disruption of cells not previously implicated in this pathology: hypothalamic orexin/hypocretin neurons (HONs). We show that temporally confined HON signals are associated with skilled movements. Without these newly-identified signals, a resistance to movement that is normally rapidly overcome leads to prolonged movement impairment. These results identify natural brain signals that enable rapid and effective motor adaptation.

Artificial Intelligence Technology in Basketball Training Action Recognition.

The primary research purpose lies in studying the intelligent detection of movements in basketball training through artificial intelligence (AI) technology. Primarily, the theory of somatosensory gesture recognition is analyzed, which lays a theoretical foundation for research. Then, the collected signal is denoised and normalized to ensure that the obtained signal data will not be distorted. Finally, the four algorithms, decision tree (DT), naive Bayes (NB), support vector machine (SVM), and artificial neural network (ANN), are used to detect the data of athletes' different limb movements and recall. The accuracy of the data is compared and analyzed. Experiments show that the back propagation (BP) ANN algorithm has the best action recognition effect among the four algorithms. In basketball training athletes' upper limb movement detection, the average accuracy rate is close to 93.3%, and the average recall is also immediate to 93.3%. In basketball training athletes' lower limb movement detection, the average accuracy rate is close to 99.4%, and the average recall is immediate to 99.4%. In the detection of movements of upper and lower limbs: the recognition method can efficiently recognize the basketball actions of catching, passing, dribbling, and shooting, the recognition rate is over 95%, and the average accuracy of the four training actions of catching, passing, dribbling, and shooting is close to 98.95%. The intelligent basketball training system studied will help basketball coaches grasp the skilled movements of athletes better to make more efficient training programs and help athletes improve their skill level.