MOTOR LEARNING

We (re-)learn motor skills every day: from mastering a new music piece to learning how to use a fork and knife again following stroke. However, there is much we still do not understand about the mechanisms underlying motor learning.

Investigating neural correlates of unimanual motor learning by using MEG we found significant associations between changes in the beta frequency range and changes in motor performance (Zich et al., bioRxiv). In a TMS-MEG study, we further found that mid-gamma power predicted performance in a subsequent motor learning task, whereas slow-γ peak frequency correlated with local GABA-A activity (Zich et al., bioRxiv).

Recently we developed a novel task to investigate different levels of bimanual interaction and found distinct learning patterns for the different levels of bimanual interaction (Schönfeld et al., 2021). We further found that phase synchrony between both sensorimotor cortices using beta tACS did not affect bimanual motor learning. Currently, we characterise MEG related signatures of bimanual motor learning and the relationship between training and transfer tasks.

Changes in E/MEG induced by motor learning a likely reflected in changes in burst properties. I recently summarised the temporal, spectral and spatial burst characteristics as well as their interactions (Zich et al., 2020).

Related publications:

Andrushko JW, Levenstein JM, Zich C, Edmond EC, Campbell J, Clarke WT, Emir U, Farthing JP, Stagg CJ

Repeated unilateral handgrip contractions induce behavioural improvements in the opposite hand via altered functional connectivity and neurochemicals in cortical motor areas

bioRxiv. https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.10.23.464569

Zich C, Nowak M, Hinson EL, Quinn AJ, Woorlich MW, Stagg CJ

Motor cortical gamma activity relate to GABAA and motor learning

bioRxiv. https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.06.16.448658

Zich C, Woolrich MW, Becker R, Vidaurre D, Scholl J, Hinson EL, Josephs L, Braeutigam S, Quinn AJ, Stagg CJ

Motor learning shapes temporal activity in human sensorimotor cortex, bioRxiv, https://doi.org/10.1101/345421

Schoenfeld M, Grigoras I, Stagg CJ, Zich C, 2021

Investigating Different Levels of Bimanual Interaction With a Novel Motor Learning Task: A Behavioural and Transcranial Alternating Current Stimulation Study

Frontiers in Human Neurosciences. 15, 755748. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2021.755748

Zich C, Quinn AJ, Mardell LC, Ward NS, Bestmann S, 2020

Dissecting transient burst events

Trends in Cognitive Sciences. 24(10), 785-788, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2020.07.004

Zich C, Quinn AJ, Bonaiuto J, O’Neill GC, Mardell LC, Ward NS, Bestmann S

Spatiotemporal organization of human sensorimotor beta burst activity

bioRxiv. https://doi.org/10.1101/2022.05.19.492617