11
Chapter 2
Cerebral Spectral Perturbation
during Upper Limb Diagonal
Movements
Fabio Marson, Patrizio Paoletti, Stefano Lasaponara,
Joseph Glicksohn, Antonio De Fano
and Tal Dotan Ben-Soussan
Abstract
While it has been suggested that diagonal rhythmical bilateral movements
promote improvement in motor and cognitive functions, no study that we are aware
of has actually examined electrophysiological changes during diagonal movements.
Therefore, we aimed to study cerebral activity during the performance of diagonal
and vertical movements (DM and VM, respectively), through EEG recording focusing on theta, alpha, and beta frequency bands. Following independent component
analysis, we computed time-frequency and source localization analysis. We found
that (1) increased frontal theta during the initiation of DM was possibly related
to the computational effort; (2) a biphasic pattern of frontoparietal alpha/beta
modulations was found during VM; and in addition, (3) source localization showed
increased frontal theta during DM generated in the middle frontal cortex. We
will discuss the current results and their implications in relation to task difficulty,
spatial and temporal computation.
Keywords: diagonal movement, ERSP, source localization, time-frequency analysis
1. Introduction
1.1 Diagonal movement overview
Diagonal arm movements are upper limb movements performed along the
sagittal plane that implies the vertical body midline in order to reach the opposite
hemispace. For this reason, diagonal movements are inherently different from
movements performed along either the transverse or vertical planes. In fact, during
vertical and horizontal movements, upper limbs cross the transverse and vertical
body midline, respectively, but not both of these axes at the same time. In fact,
Adele Diamond [1] has suggested the idea that rhythmical, diagonal, bilateral
coordinated arm movements and eye-hand coordination could play a role in cognitive rehabilitation as well, providing a framework that could reduce the distance
between the idea that motor activity cannot influence cognition and that cognitive
rehabilitation requires only pure cognitive-related protocols.
At the beginning of the twenty-first century, Diamond summarized different
scientific evidence to highlight the fact that movement and cognition are linked in terms
Chapter 2
Cerebral Spectral Perturbation
during Upper Limb Diagonal
Movements
Fabio Marson, Patrizio Paoletti, Stefano Lasaponara,
Joseph Glicksohn, Antonio De Fano
and Tal Dotan Ben-Soussan
Abstract
While it has been suggested that diagonal rhythmical bilateral movements
promote improvement in motor and cognitive functions, no study that we are aware
of has actually examined electrophysiological changes during diagonal movements.
Therefore, we aimed to study cerebral activity during the performance of diagonal
and vertical movements (DM and VM, respectively), through EEG recording focusing on theta, alpha, and beta frequency bands. Following independent component
analysis, we computed time-frequency and source localization analysis. We found
that (1) increased frontal theta during the initiation of DM was possibly related
to the computational effort; (2) a biphasic pattern of frontoparietal alpha/beta
modulations was found during VM; and in addition, (3) source localization showed
increased frontal theta during DM generated in the middle frontal cortex. We
will discuss the current results and their implications in relation to task difficulty,
spatial and temporal computation.
Keywords: diagonal movement, ERSP, source localization, time-frequency analysis
1. Introduction
1.1 Diagonal movement overview
Diagonal arm movements are upper limb movements performed along the
sagittal plane that implies the vertical body midline in order to reach the opposite
hemispace. For this reason, diagonal movements are inherently different from
movements performed along either the transverse or vertical planes. In fact, during
vertical and horizontal movements, upper limbs cross the transverse and vertical
body midline, respectively, but not both of these axes at the same time. In fact,
Adele Diamond [1] has suggested the idea that rhythmical, diagonal, bilateral
coordinated arm movements and eye-hand coordination could play a role in cognitive rehabilitation as well, providing a framework that could reduce the distance
between the idea that motor activity cannot influence cognition and that cognitive
rehabilitation requires only pure cognitive-related protocols.
At the beginning of the twenty-first century, Diamond summarized different
scientific evidence to highlight the fact that movement and cognition are linked in terms