Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Interactions between new and pre-existing dynamics in bimanual movement control

  • Research Article
  • Published:
Experimental Brain Research Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Motor skills are commonly acquired through practice. This process not only involves acquisition of the particular task demands but also requires overcoming pre-existing modes. In the present study, interactions between new and intrinsic dynamics were evaluated. Accordingly, bimanual finger tapping with a 2:1 ratio was performed according to two training schedules: continuous (consecutive trials) and interrupted (non-consecutive trials with intermediate 1:1 in-phase performances). In addition, in-phase and anti-phase were probed before and after training. Behavioral output was assessed by means of temporal accuracy and variability, whereas neural activation patterns were determined by EEG coherence. Results showed that continuous practice resulted in improved performance with reduced coherence across the motor network. For interrupted practice, behavioral execution ameliorated, although it was inferior to performance with continuous practice. In terms of neural changes, the degree of intrahemispheric and midline connectivity did not reduce with interrupted practice, whereas interhemispheric connectivity increased. This signifies that short-term motor consolidation of the 2:1 task was disrupted due to intermediate performance of the in-phase mode. Furthermore, the probed in-phase and anti-phase pattern showed no behavioral changes, although neural alterations occurred that depended on training schedule and coordination mode. Overall, the observations illustrate bidirectional interactions between new and inherent dynamics during motor acquisition, raising issues about effective methods for learning skills and scheduling of practices in neurorehabilitation.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Bays PM, Flanagan JR, Wolpert DM (2005) Interference between velocity-dependent and position-dependent force-fields indicates that tasks depending on different kinematic parameters compete for motor working memory. Exp Brain Res 63:400–405

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Belger A, Banich MT (1998) Costs and benefits of integrating information between the cerebral hemispheres: a computational perspective. Neuropsychology 12:380–398

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Brashers-Krug T, Shadmehr R, Bizzi E (1996) Consolidation in human motor memory. Nature 382:252–255

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Chen YC, Thaler D, Nixon PD, Stern CE, Passingham RE (1995) The functions of the medial premotor cortex. II. The timing and selection of learned movements. Exp Brain Res 102:461–473

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Debaere F, Wenderoth N, Sunaert S, Van Hecke P, Swinnen SP (2004) Changes in brain activation during the acquisition of a new bimanual coordination task. Neuropsychologia 42:855–867

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Doyon J, Benali H (2005) Reorganization and plasticity in the adult brain during learning of motor skills. Curr Opin Neurobiol 15:161–167

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Duque J, Mazzocchio R, Dambrosia J, Murase N, Olivier E, Cohen LG (2005) Kinematically specific interhemispheric inhibition operating in the process of generation of a voluntary movement. Cereb Cortex 15:588–593

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Erdler M, Windischberger C, Lanzenberger R, Edward V, Gartus A, Deecke L, Beisteiner R (2001) Dissociation of supplementary motor area and primary motor cortex in human subjects when comparing index and little finger movements with functional magnetic resonance imaging. Neurosci Lett 313:5–8

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Fink GR, Marshall JC, Halligan PW, Frith CD, Driver J, Frackowiak RSJ, Dolan RJ (1999) The neural consequences of conflict between intention and the senses. Brain 122:497–512

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Fontaine RJ, Lee TD, Swinnen SP (1997) Learning a new bimanual coordination pattern: reciprocal influences of intrinsic and to-be-learned patterns. Can J Exp Psychol 51:1–9

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Franz EA, Zelaznik HN, McCabe G (1991) Spatial topological constraints in a bimanual task. Acta Psychol 77:137–151

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Gerloff C, Corwell B, Chen R, Hallett M, Cohen LG (1998) The role of the human motor cortex in the control of complex and simple finger movement sequences. Brain 121:1695–1709

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Grefkes C, Eickhoff SB, Nowak DA, Dafotakis M, Fink GR (2008) Dynamic intra- and interhemispheric interactions during unilateral and bilateral hand movements assessed with fMRI and DCM. Neuroimage 41:1382–1394

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Haslinger B, Erhard P, Altenmüller E, Hennenlotter A, Schwaiger M, Gräfin von Einsiedel H, Rummeny E, Conrad B, Ceballos-Baumann AO (2004) Reduced recruitment of motor association areas during bimanual coordination in concert pianists. Hum Brain Mapp 22:206–215

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hummel F, Andres F, Altenmüller E, Dichgans J, Gerloff C (2002) Inhibitory control of acquired motor programmes in the human brain. Brain 125:404–420

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Johansen-Berg H, Matthews PM (2002) Attention to movement modulates activity in sensori-motor areas, including primary motor cortex. Exp Brain Res 142:13–24

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kelso JA (1984) Phase transitions and critical behavior in human bimanual coordination. Am J Physiol Regul Integr Comp Physiol 246:R1000–R1004

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Kelso JA, Zanone PG (2002) Coordination dynamics of learning and transfer across different effector systems. J Exp Psychol Hum Percept Perform 28:776–797

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Kelso JAS, Southard DL, Goodman D (1979) On the coordination of two-handed movements. J Exp Psychol Hum Percept Perform 5:229–238

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Kelso JA, Holt KG, Rubin P, Kugler PN (1981) Patterns of human interlimb coordination emerge from the properties of non-linear, limit cycle oscillatory processes: theory and data. J Mot Behav 13:226–261

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Kinsbourne M (1970) The cerebral basis of lateral asymmetries in attention. Acta Psychol 33:193–201

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Kostrubiec V, Tallet J, Zanone PG (2006) How a new behavioral pattern is stabilized with learning determines its persistence and flexibility in memory. Exp Brain Res 170:238–244

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Krakauer JW, Ghez C, Ghilardi MF (2005) Adaptation to visuomotor transformations: consolidation, interference, and forgetting. J Neurosci 25:473–478

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Krakauer JW, Mazzoni P, Ghazizadeh A, Ravindran R, Shadmehr R (2006) Generalization of motor learning depends on the history of prior action. PLoS Biol 10:1798–1808

    Google Scholar 

  • Lee TD, Magill RA (1985) Can forgetting facilitate skill acquisition? In: Goodman D, Wilberg RB, Franks IM (eds) Differing perspectives in motor learning, memory, and control. Elsevier, Amsterdam, pp 3–22

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Macar F, Vidal F (2002) Time processing reflected by EEG surface Laplacians. Exp Brain Res 145:403–406

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Maslovat D, Chus R, Lee TD, Franks IM (2004) Contextual interference: single task versus multi-task learning. Motor Control 8:213–233

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Nowicka A, Grabowska A, Fersten E (1996) Interhemispheric transmission of information and functional asymmetry of the human brain. Neuropsychologia 34:147–151

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Oldfield RC (1971) The assessment and analysis of handedness: the Edinburgh inventory. Neuropsychologia 9:97–113

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Proteau L, Marteniuk RG, Lévesque LA (1992) Sensorimotor basis for motor learning: evidence indicating specificity of practice. Q J Exp Psychol A 44:557–575

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Puttemans V, Wenderoth N, Swinnen SP (2005) Changes in brain activation during the acquisition of a multifrequency bimanual coordination task: from the cognitive stage to advanced levels of automaticity. J Neurosci 25:4270–4278

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Rémy F, Wenderoth N, Lipkens K, Swinnen SP (2008) Acquisition of a new bimanual coordination pattern modulates the cerebral activations elicited by an intrinsic pattern: an fMRI study. Cortex 44:482–493

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Rowe J, Friston K, Frackowiak R, Passingham R (2002) Attention to action: specific modulation of corticocortical interactions in humans. Neuroimage 17:988–998

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Sadato N, Yonekura Y, Waki A, Yamada H, Ishii Y (1997) Role of the supplementary motor area and the right premotor cortex in the coordination of bimanual finger movements. J Neurosci 17:9667–9674

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Schmidt RA, Lee TD (2005) Motor control and learning: a behavioral emphasis. Human Kinetics, Champaign

    Google Scholar 

  • Semjen A (2002) On the timing basis of bimanual coordination in discrete and continuous tasks. Brain Cogn 48:133–148

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Serrien DJ (2009) Functional connectivity patterns during motor behaviour: the impact of past on present activity. Hum Brain Mapp 30:523–531

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Serrien DJ, Brown P (2002) The functional role of interhemispheric synchronization in the control of bimanual timing tasks. Exp Brain Res 147:268–272

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Serrien DJ, Swinnen SP (1997) Coordination constraints induced by effector combination under isofrequency and multifrequency conditions. J Exp Psychol Hum Percept Perform 23:493–1510

    Google Scholar 

  • Serrien DJ, Strens LHA, Oliviero A, Brown P (2002) Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation over the supplementary motor area (SMA) degrades bimanual movement control in humans. Neurosci Lett 328:89–92

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Serrien DJ, Cassidy MJ, Brown P (2003) The importance of the dominant hemisphere in the organization of bimanual movements. Hum Brain Mapp 18:296–305

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Shea JB, Morgan RL (1979) Contextual interference effects on the acquisition, retention, and transfer of a motor skill. J Exp Psychol Learn Mem Cogn 5:179–187

    Google Scholar 

  • Stancák A, Svoboda J, Rachmanová R, Vrána J, Králík J, Tintera J (2003) Desynchronization of cortical rhythms following cutaneous stimulation: effects of stimulus repetition and intensity, and of the size of corpus callosum. Clin Neurophysiol 114:1936–1947

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Summers JJ (2002) Practice and training in bimanual coordination tasks: strategies and constraints. Brain Cogn 48:66–178

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Swinnen SP, Young DE, Walter CB, Serrien DJ (1991) Control of asymmetrical bimanual movements. Exp Brain Res 185:163–173

    Google Scholar 

  • Vangheluwe S, Suy E, Wenderoth N, Swinnen SP (2006) Learning and transfer of bimanual multifrequency patterns: effector-independent and effector-specific levels of movement representation. Exp Brain Res 170:543–554

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Walter CB, Swinnen SP, Corcos DM, Pollatou E, Pan HY (1997) Coping with systematic bias during bilateral movement. Psychol Res 60:202–213

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Wulf G, Lee TD, Schmidt RA (1994) Reduced knowledge of results about relative versus absolute timing: differential effects on learning. J Mot Behav 26:362–369

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Zanone PG, Kelso JA (1992) Evolution of behavioral attractors with learning: nonequilibrium phase transitions. J Exp Psychol Hum Percept Perform 18:403–421

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

This research was supported by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (Grant BB/F012454/1) and Research Committee (NRF) of the University of Nottingham. Thanks to E. Georgiadi for assistance.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Psychology, University of Nottingham, University Park, Nottingham, NG7 2RD, UK

    Deborah J. Serrien

Authors
  1. Deborah J. Serrien
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Deborah J. Serrien.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Serrien, D.J. Interactions between new and pre-existing dynamics in bimanual movement control. Exp Brain Res 197, 269–278 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-009-1910-6

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-009-1910-6

Keywords

Search

Navigation