Anodal Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation over the Right Dorsolateral Prefrontal Cortex Boosts Decision Making and Functional Impulsivity in Female Sports Referees.

We investigated the effect of anodal transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) over the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (rDLPFC) on the sensitive decision making of female team sports referees. Twenty-four female referees voluntarily participated in this randomized, double-blind, crossover, and sham-controlled study. In three different sessions, participants received either anodal (a-tDCS; anode (+) over F4, cathode (-) over the supraorbital region (SO)), cathodal (c-tDCS; -F4/+SO), or sham tDCS (sh-tDCS) in a randomized and counterbalanced order.

Non-local muscle fatigue is mediated at spinal and supraspinal levels.

The objective was to measure the corticospinal excitability and motoneuron responsiveness of the right and left Biceps Brachii (BB), and left Abductor Digiti Minimi (ADM) muscles in response to submaximal isotonic fatiguing contractions performed by the right BB muscle. With the familiarization session, ten young moderately active male subjects came to the lab on seven occasions. Three sets of 3 min seated elbow curls at 25% of one-repetition maximum (1RM) separated by a 1-min rest performed by the right BB muscle were used as the fatiguing protocol.

Endurance Trained Athletes Do Not Have Higher Hoffmann Reflexes Than Recreationally Active Controls.

The impact of endurance training on spinal neural circuitries remains largely unknown. Some studies have reported higher H-reflexes in endurance trained athletes and therefore, adaptations within the Ia afferent pathways after long term endurance training have been suggested. In the present study we tested the hypothesis that cyclists ( = 12) demonstrate higher Hoffmann reflexes (H-reflexes) compared to recreationally active controls ( = 10).

Elites Do Not Deplete - No Effect of Prior Mental Exertion on Subsequent Shooting Performance in Elite Shooters.

In order to perform at the highest level, elite shooters have to remain focused during the whole course of a tournament, which regularly lasts multiple hours. Investing self-control over extended time periods is often associated with lower levels of perceived self-control strength (i.e.

Corticospinal properties are associated with sensorimotor performance in action video game players.

Notwithstanding the apparent demands regarding fine motor skills that are required to perform in action video games, the motor nervous system of players has not been studied systematically. In the present study, we hypothesized to find differences in sensorimotor performance and corticospinal characteristics between action video game players (Players) and Controls. We tested sensorimotor performance in video games tasks and used transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) to measure motor map, input-output (IO) and short intra-cortical inhibition (SICI) curves in the first dorsal interosseous (FDI) muscle of Players (n = 18) and Control (n = 18).

Six Sessions of Sprint-Interval Training Did Not Improve Endurance and Neuromuscular Performance in Untrained Men.

Previous research demonstrated that six sessions of cycling sprint-interval training (SIT) within a duration of only 2 weeks can increase endurance performance considerably. Primarily muscular mechanisms have been under investigation explaining such performance improvements. However, it has been shown in other exercise tasks that training-induced changes also occur at the level of the central nervous system.

Motor learning induces time-dependent plasticity that is observable at the spinal cord level.

Key Points: The spinal cord is an important contributor to motor learning It remains unclear whether short-term spinal cord adaptations are general or task-specific Immediately after task acquisition, neural adaptations were not specific to the trained task (i.e. were general) Twenty-four hours after acquisition, neural adaptations appeared to be task-specific The neural reorganization and generalization of spinal adaptations appears to be time-dependent.

Reductions in body sway responses to a rhythmic support surface tilt perturbation can be caused by other mechanisms than prediction.

Studies investigating balance control often use external perturbations to probe the system. These perturbations can be administered as randomized, pseudo-randomized, or predictable sequences. As predictability of a given perturbation can affect balance performance, the way those perturbations are constructed may affect the results of the experiments.

Neuromuscular Fatigue Induced by a Mixed Martial Art Training Protocol.

Giboin, L-S and Gruber, M. Neuromuscular fatigue induced by a mixed martial art training protocol. J Strength Cond Res 36(2): 469-477, 2022-Mixed martial arts (MMA) is a full-contact sport whose popularity and professionalism are rapidly growing.

Six weeks of balance or power training induce no generalizable improvements in balance performance in healthy young adults.

Background: Training programs for fall prevention often fail to induce large general effects. To improve the efficacy of fall prevention programs, it is crucial to determine which type of training is most effective in inducing generalizable effects, i.e.

Investigating Performance in a Strenuous Physical Task from the Perspective of Self-Control.

It has been proposed that one reason physical effort is perceived as costly is because of the self-control demands that are necessary to persist in a physically demanding task. The application of control has been conceptualized as a value-based decision, that hinges on an optimization of the costs of control and available reward. Here, we drew on labor supply theory to investigate the effects of an Income Compensated Wage Decrease (ICWD) on persistence in a strenuous physical task.

Cortical, subcortical and spinal neural correlates of slackline training-induced balance performance improvements.

Humans develop posture and balance control during childhood. Interestingly, adults can also learn to master new complex balance tasks, but the underlying neural mechanisms are not fully understood yet. Here, we combined broad scale brain connectivity fMRI at rest and spinal excitability measurements during movement.

Three months of slackline training elicit only task-specific improvements in balance performance.

Slackline training is a challenging and motivating type of balance training, with potential usefulness for fall prevention and balance rehabilitation. However, short-term slackline training seems to elicit mostly task-specific performance improvements, reducing its potential for general fall prevention programs. It was tested whether a longer duration slackline training (three months, 2 sessions per week) would induce a transfer to untrained tasks.

Additional Intra- or Inter-session Balance Tasks Do Not Interfere With the Learning of a Novel Balance Task.

It has been shown that balance training induces task-specific performance improvements with very limited transfer to untrained tasks. Thus, regarding fall prevention, one strategy is to practice as many tasks as possible to be prepared for a multitude of situations with increased fall risk. However, it is not clear whether the learning of several different balance tasks interfere with each other.

Motor learning of a dynamic balance task: Influence of lower limb power and prior balance practice.

Objectives: We wanted to verify if the "learning to learn" effect observed in the learning of visuomotor tasks is also present when learning a balance task, i.e., whether the learning rate of a balance task is improved by prior practice of similar balance tasks.

Active recovery affects the recovery of the corticospinal system but not of muscle contractile properties.

Purpose: Active recovery is often used by athletes after strenuous exercise or competition but its underlying mechanisms are not well understood. We hypothesized that active recovery speeds-up recovery processes within the muscle and the central nervous system (CNS).

Methods: We assessed muscular and CNS recovery by measuring the voluntary activation (VA) in the vastus lateralis muscle with transcranial magnetic stimulation (VATMS) and peripheral nerve stimulation (VAPNS) during maximal voluntary contractions (MVC) of the knee extensors in 11 subjects.

Anodal and cathodal transcranial direct current stimulation can decrease force output of knee extensors during an intermittent MVC fatiguing task in young healthy male participants.

Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) has the capacity to enhance force output during a short-lasting maximal voluntary contraction (MVC) as well as during a long-lasting submaximal voluntary contraction until task failure. However, its effect on an intermittent maximal effort is not known. We hypothesized that anodal tDCS applied during or before a maximal fatigue task increases the amplitude of maximal voluntary contraction (aMVC) and voluntary activation (VA) in young healthy male participants.

Corticospinal control from M1 and PMv areas on inhibitory cervical propriospinal neurons in humans.

Inhibitory propriospinal neurons with diffuse projections onto upper limb motoneurons have been revealed in humans using peripheral nerve stimulation. This system is supposed to mediate descending inhibition to motoneurons, to prevent unwilling muscle activity. However, the corticospinal control onto inhibitory propriospinal neurons has never been investigated so far in humans.

Intermittent Theta Burst Over M1 May Increase Peak Power of a Wingate Anaerobic Test and Prevent the Reduction of Voluntary Activation Measured with Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation.

Despite the potential of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) to improve performances in patients suffering from motor neuronal afflictions, its effect on motor performance enhancement in healthy subjects during a specific sport task is still unknown. We hypothesized that after an intermittent theta burst (iTBS) treatment, performance during the Wingate Anaerobic Test (WAnT) will increase and supraspinal fatigue following the exercise will be lower in comparison to a control treatment. Ten subjects participated in two randomized experiments consisting of a WAnT 5 min after either an iTBS or a control treatment.

Specificity of Balance Training in Healthy Individuals: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

Background: It has become common practice to incorporate balance tasks into the training program for athletes who want to improve performance and prevent injuries, in rehabilitation programs, and in fall prevention programs for the elderly. However, it is still unclear whether incorporating balance tasks into a training program increases performance only in these specific tasks or if it affects balance in a more general way.

Objectives: The objective of this systematic literature review and meta-analysis was to determine to what extent the training of balance tasks can improve performance in non-trained balance tasks.

Task-specificity of balance training.

Despite much research on balance training, it is still unclear whether balance training leads to highly task-specific adaptations or rather non-specific adaptations. Hence, in this study we examined whether balance training increased performance only in the balance task that was trained or also in non-trained tasks. Forty healthy participants (28 m 12 f, 25 ± 4 years, 177 ± 10 cm, 73 ± 14 kg) were assigned to one of two training groups (TGs) or a control group.

Corticospinal and reciprocal inhibition actions on human soleus motoneuron activity during standing and walking.

Reciprocal Ia inhibition constitutes a key segmental neuronal pathway for coordination of antagonist muscles. In this study, we investigated the soleus H-reflex and reciprocal inhibition exerted from flexor group Ia afferents on soleus motoneurons during standing and walking in 15 healthy subjects following transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS). The effects of separate TMS or deep peroneal nerve (DPN) stimulation and the effects of combined (TMS + DPN) stimuli on the soleus H-reflex were assessed during standing and at mid- and late stance phases of walking.

Task-related modulation of crossed spinal inhibition between human lower limbs.

Crossed reflex action mediated by muscle spindle afferent inputs has recently been revealed in humans. This raised the question of whether a complex spinal network involving commissural interneurons receiving inputs from proprioceptors and suprasegmental structures, as described in cats, persists in humans and contributes to the interlimb coordination during movement. First, we investigated the neurophysiological mechanisms underlying crossed reflex action between ankle plantar flexors and its corticospinal control from primary motor cortex.

Spinal plasticity in stroke patients after botulinum neurotoxin A injection in ankle plantar flexors.

The effect of botulinum neurotoxin A (BoNT-A) in stroke patients' upper limbs has been attributed to its peripheral action only. However, BoNT-A depressed recurrent inhibition of lumbar motoneurons, likely due to its retrograde transportation along motor axons affecting synapses to Renshaw cells. Because Renshaw cells control group Ia interneurons mediating reciprocal inhibition between antagonists, we tested whether this inhibition, particularly affected after stroke, could recover after BoNT-A.

Beyond muscular effects: depression of spinal recurrent inhibition after botulinum neurotoxin A.

The natural target of the botulinum neurototoxin type A (BoNT-A) is the neuromuscular junction. When injected into a muscle, BoNT-A is internalized by motoneurone terminals where it functions as an endopeptidase, cleaving protein components of the synaptic machinery responsible for vesicle docking and exocytosis. As a result, BoNT-A induces a characteristic flaccid paralysis of the affected muscle.