Quantifying the diverse contributions of hierarchical muscle interactions to motor function.

The muscle synergy concept suggests that the human motor system is organized into functional modules composed of muscles "" toward common task goals. This study offers a nuanced computational perspective to muscle synergies, where muscles interacting across multiple scales have functionally similar, complementary, and independent roles. Making this viewpoint implicit to a methodological approach applying Partial Information Decomposition to large-scale muscle activations, we unveiled nested networks of functionally diverse inter- and intramuscular interactions with distinct functional consequences on task performance.

Time of day and sleep effects on motor acquisition and consolidation.

We investigated the influence of the time-of-day and sleep on skill acquisition (i.e., skill improvement immediately after a training-session) and consolidation (i.

Motor Imagery Training Is Beneficial for Motor Memory of Upper and Lower Limb Tasks in Very Old Adults.

Human aging is associated with a decline in the capacity to memorize recently acquired motor skills. Motor imagery training is a beneficial method to compensate for this deterioration in old adults. It is not yet known whether these beneficial effects are maintained in very old adults (>80 years), who are more affected by the degeneration processes.

Quantifying Paddling Kinematics through Muscle Activation and Whole Body Coordination during Maximal Sprints of Different Durations on a Kayak Ergometer: A Pilot Study.

Paddling technique and stroke kinematics are important performance factors in flatwater sprint kayaking and entail significant energetic demands and a high strength from the muscles of the trunk and upper limbs. The various distances completed (from 200 m to 1000 m) require the athletes to optimize their pacing strategy, to maximize power output distribution throughout the race. This study aimed to characterize paddling technique and stroke kinematics during two maximal sprints of different duration.