loading page

Spatio-temporal modulation of cortical activity during motor deadaptation depends on the feedback of task-related error
  • +4
  • Christian Mista,
  • Federico Arguissain,
  • Alessandro Ranieri,
  • Jørgen Nielsen,
  • Henning Andersen,
  • José Biurrun,
  • Ole Andersen
Christian Mista
Institute for Research and Development on Bioengineering and Bioinformatics (IBB)
Author Profile
Federico Arguissain
Aalborg Universitet
Author Profile
Alessandro Ranieri
Aalborg Universitet
Author Profile
Jørgen Nielsen
Aarhus University Hospital
Author Profile
Henning Andersen
Aarhus Universitetshospital
Author Profile
José Biurrun
Institute for Research and Development on Bioengineering and Bioinformatics (IBB)
Author Profile
Ole Andersen
Aalborg Universitet

Corresponding Author:oka@hst.aau.dk

Author Profile

Abstract

Motor adaptations are responsible for recalibrating actions and facilitating the achievement of goals in an ever-changing environment. Once consolidated, the decay of motor adaptation is a process affected by available sensory information during deadaptation. However, the cortical response to task error feedback during the deadaptation phase has received little attention. Here, we explored changes in brain cortical responses due to feedback of task-related error during deadaptation. Twelve healthy volunteers were recruited for the study. Right hand movement and EEG were recorded during repetitive trials of a hand reaching movement. A visuomotor rotation of 30° was introduced to induce motor adaptation. Volunteers participated in two experimental sessions organized in baseline, adaptation, and deadaptation blocks. In the deadaptation block, the visuomotor rotation was removed, and visual feedback was only provided in one session. Performance was quantified using angle end-point error, mean speed, and movement onset time. Non-parametric spatiotemporal cluster-level permutation test was used to analyze the EEG recordings. During deadaptation, participants experienced a greater error reduction when feedback of the cursor was provided. The EEG responses showed larger activity in the left centro-frontal parietal areas during the deadaptation block when participants received feedback, as opposed to when they did not receive feedback. Centrally distributed clusters were found for the adaptation and deadaptation blocks in the absence of visual feedback. The results suggest that visual feedback of the task-related error activates cortical areas related to performance monitoring. Different neural circuits contribute to the deadaptation process depending on the available surrounding information.