Motor programming of response force and movement direction

Abstract

Effects of movement advance information were assessed on the prestimulus amplitude of the lateralized readiness potential~LRP!, on the contingent negative variation~CNV!, and on reaction time~RT!. In a precuing paradigm with movement parameters hand, direction, and force, partial precues provided advance information about either hand alone, hand plus force, or hand plus direction, and the full precue specified all response parameters. The full precue produced the shortest RTs and the largest CNV amplitude, precuing hand and force or hand and movement direction produced somewhat slower RTs and a somewhat smaller CNV amplitude, and precuing only hand yielded slowest RTs and the smallest CNV amplitude. In contrast, the LRP amplitude was largest for the full precue and was the same for the remaining precues. The CNV appears to index the central assembling of a motor program, and the LRP represents the implementation of the program at more peripheral levels. The introduction of event-related brain potentials~ERPs! in the study of movement preparation has provided new approaches and insights into what had previously been an exclusively behavioral field. The most successful approach in cognitive psychology to analyze the nature of movement preparation employs the precuing technique developed by Rosenbaum~1980, 1983!. This technique is a variant of a choice reaction time~RT! task, in which each of the possible responses is associated with a single imperative stimulus. Before the onset of the stimulus, a precue conveys information about certain movement parameters. Usually, RT decreases with the amount of advance information provided. From the relation between advance information and the corresponding RT saving, cognitive psychologists hoped to learn more about motoric preparation and the nature of motor programs~e.g., Rosenbaum, 1980!. However, this approach was criticized by Goodman and Kelso~1980! who argued that the RT saving observed with this technique does not reflect a genuine motor effect but rather the facilitation of response selection at a premotoric level. The debate on whether the RT saving reflects a genuine motoric effect could not be settled with the traditional behavioral RT measure because the motoric portion of RT is not directly observable.In resolving this controversy, a new measure, the lateralized readiness potential~LRP!, has recently been used~Leuthold, Sommer, & Ulrich, 1996!; there is strong evidence that the LRP provides a specific index to trace the time course of motor activatioñ cf. Coles, Gratton, & Donchin, 1988;De Jong, Wierda, Mulder, & Mulder, 1988;Miller & Hackley, 1992!. Experiments employing LRP often involve a two-choice RT task in which a precue informs the participant about the responding hand and a subsequent imperative stimulus tells the participant that the response should now be made. During the interval between the precue and the imperative stimulus, the motor readiness potential exhibits greater negativity over the motor cortex contralateral to the responding hand,...

Attention-Related Potentials Allow for a Highly Accurate Discrimination of Mild Cognitive Impairment Subtypes

“…As already described in healthy controls [50,51], the CNV amplitude was larger for the more informative spatial cue (alerting and orienting, temporally and spatially informative) compared to the less informative center cue (alerting, temporally informative) and noninformative cue. Quantitatively, its amplitude did not differ between sd-dMCI and the other two MCI subgroups suggesting that the functionality of the attentional networks was not modulated according to the predominance of dysexecutive deficits.…”

Movement Planning and Reprogramming in Individuals With Autism

“…In recent years scientists have utilized neuroimaging techniques in an attempt to distinguish between possible perceptual/cognitive and motor effects of advance information on movement initiation (i.e., RT). For example, Ulrich et al (1998) reported that when the response hand was precued there was greater activity over the contralateral hemisphere. This relative increase in activity is known as the lateralized readiness potential (LRP), which is an electrophysiological index of selective hand activation in the primary motor cortex (Osman et al 2003).…”

Speed-accuracy modulation in case of conflict: the roles of activation and inhibition

“…Although processes related to attention for the upcoming stimulus also contribute to CNV (Brunia, 1993;Van Boxtel, 1994), the late CNV is a sensitive index of the accumulated motor activation. For example, Ulrich et al (1998) showed that the amplitude of the late CNV increased with the amount of response information communicated by S1.…”