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Faculty of Medical Sciences

Effects of age and somatosensory electrical stimulation on motor performance: an EEG study

Kazakou, S. (Sylvia) (2019) Effects of age and somatosensory electrical stimulation on motor performance: an EEG study. thesis, Human Movement Sciences.

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Abstract

Introduction: we investigated the effects of age and somatosensory electrical stimulation on motor performance of a novel visuomotor task. We used PSI as a measure of resting state brain activity to investigate whether increases in motor performance were related with increases of inter-regional connectivity between sensorimotor brain regions. Methods: 6 older (5M/1F; 74.3±5.6) and 6 younger (5M/1F; 21±2.4) healthy, right-handed adults were included in the study. EEG resting state activity and right and left motor performance were acquired at baseline on day1, immediately after somatosensory electrical stimulation and on day 2, 24 hours after. Results: No significant effect of time (pre-test, post-test, retention) was found on motor performance for the right hand but there was a significant Group x Time interaction. A significant effect of time was found for the left non-stimulated hand. Significant changes in PSI between the supplementary motor area and left primary motor cortex correlated significantly with changes of motor performance of the left hand on day 1 right after intervention. No other significant correlations were found between changes in PSI between other sensorimotor areas and improvements in motor performance for either groups. Conclusion: The present data may reflect somatosensory induced synaptic plasticity as a result of SES in the older adults and show the positive effects of SES on the stimulated right hand for the younger group. SES might have impeded an increase in motor performance of the right hand in the older group. Further investigation is necessary to conclude about the effects of SES and age on motor performance.

Item Type: Thesis (UNSPECIFIED)
Supervisor name: Hortobágyi, prof. dr. T.
Faculty: Medical Sciences
Date Deposited: 23 May 2022 08:36
Last Modified: 23 May 2022 08:36
URI: https://umcg.studenttheses.ub.rug.nl/id/eprint/3414

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