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Recent news and publications:
Publication: Neural processes mediating the preparation and release of focal motor output are suppressed or absent during imagined movement
PDF This study investigated whether movements that were “imaged” or “imagined” to be executed involved a build up of preparatory activation in brain structures in a similar way as movements that were actually executed. By using a loud startling acoustic stimulus, we are able to elicit pre-planned movements if they…
Publication: Responses to startling acoustic stimuli indicate that movement‐related activation is constant prior to action: a replication with an alternate interpretation
PDF This study is a replication of a previous experiment that investigated how movement-related brain activation changes as a go-stimulus approaches in time. The previous experiment used a startle to show that activity increased in short time prior to the go-signal. However, startle activity was not reported, so this was only…
Publication: Increased stability of bimanual coordination following transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) applied over the supplementary motor area (SMA)
In this study subjects performed a bimanual coordination task, where spontaneous transitions between states is observed at higher oscillation frequencies. For example, when limbs are moved in a parallel fashion (like windshield wipers on a car) a transition is seen at faster speeds whereby subjects spontaneously change to performing mirror-symmetrical…
Publication: Self-controlled feedback is effective if it is based on the learner’s performance: a replication and extension of Chiviacowsky and Wulf (2005)
PDF This study looked at whether giving learners control over if (and when) they received feedback affected learning of a new task. The main finding is that learners who were able to choose to receive feedback after a trial performed better in retention and transfer. This suggests that the decision to…
Publication: Inhibition of motor-related activation during a simple reaction time task requiring visuomotor mental rotation
PDF Seminal work by Georgopoulos and colleagues (1987) showed that reaction time (RT) increased when a rotational mental transformation had to be calculated prior to responding. A loud acoustic stimulus can be used to trigger prepared responses, so this effect was used in the current experiment to determine how preparatory activation levels in…