Measuring cerebral hemodynamic changes during action observation with functional transcranial doppler

Abstract

Abstract.[Purpose] The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of action observation training (AOT) on cerebral hemodynamic changes including cerebral blood flow velocity (CBFV) and cerebral blood flow volume (CBFvol) in healthy subjects.[Subjects] Fifteen healthy subjects participated in this study.[Methods] All subjects were educated regarding AOT, and systolic peak velocity (Vs) as well as mean flow velocity (Vm) in the middle cerebral artery (MCA), anterior cerebral artery (ACA), and posterior cerebral artery (PCA) were evaluated using functional transcranial doppler with a 2-MHz probe, before and after performing AOT.[Results] Healthy subjects showed significant differences in Vs and Vm in the MCA, ACA, and PCA after AOT compared with those before AOT.[Conclusion] Our findings indicate that AOT has a positive effect in terms of an increase in CBFV and CBFvol in healthy subjects, since the brain requires more blood to meet the metabolic demand during AOT.

Effects of vibratory stimulation-induced kinesthetic illusions on the neural activities of patients with stroke

“…This suggests an increase in information from the sensorimotor cortical areas, that plays an important role in the processing of kinesthetic information from the muscle spindles, and in motor perception 3 ) . In this case, μ-waves may have been attenuated because of the asynchronous nature of neuronal activity on the two sides 34 ) in the sensorimotor cortical areas 13 , 15 ) . Neural activity in the motor area BA4 is not only involved in the processing of sensory information from the muscle spindle, but is also related to sensorimotor information per se 3 ) .…”

“…The electroencephalographic mu-rhythm 13 ) (μ-wave) is useful as a neurophysiological index for capturing data from such analyses. A μ-wave is the high-frequency component ranging from 10 to 13 Hz of the alpha band 14 ) , which appears in the sensorimotor cortex 13 , 15 ) and the supplementary motor area 16 , 17 ) . Since this wave is attenuated not only by actual motion, but also by kinesthetic motor imagery 13 , 15 ) , it reflects neural activity both during kinesthetic illusion and during the generation of a motor image.…”

“…A μ-wave is the high-frequency component ranging from 10 to 13 Hz of the alpha band 14 ) , which appears in the sensorimotor cortex 13 , 15 ) and the supplementary motor area 16 , 17 ) . Since this wave is attenuated not only by actual motion, but also by kinesthetic motor imagery 13 , 15 ) , it reflects neural activity both during kinesthetic illusion and during the generation of a motor image. To date, the association between kinesthetic illusion and μ-waves has been reported for healthy subjects 18 ) , but not for stroke patients.…”

Detecting peripersonal space: The promising role of ultrasonics

“…The variables we measured are commonly used to estimate cerebrovascular responsiveness to various stimuli (Watt, Burnfield, Truemper, Buster, & Bashford, 2012). In particular, one can estimate the distal cerebrovascular resistance by measuring the PI, which depends on multiple hemodynamic variables including the metabolic changes during cognitive tasks (thus being possible to indirectly estimate changes in brain metabolism) (D'Andrea et al., 2016; Demarin & Morovic, 2014; Kenney et al., 2016; Kim & Lee, 2015; Purkayastha & Sorond, 2012; Wolf, 2015). …”