title: Neuromagnetic brain activity associated with anticipatory postural adjustments for bimanual load lifting.
abstract: During bimanual load lifting, the brain must anticipate the effects of unloading upon the load-bearing arm. Little is currently known about the neural networks that coordinate these anticipatory postural adjustments. We measured neuromagnetic brain activity with whole-head magnetoencephalography while participants performed a bimanual load-lifting task. Anticipatory adjustments were associated with reduction in biceps brachii muscle activity of the load-bearing arm and pre-movement desynchronization of the cortical beta rhythm. Beamforming analyses localized anticipatory brain activity to the precentral gyrus, basal ganglia, supplementary motor area, and thalamus, contralateral to the load-bearing arm. To our knowledge this is the first human neuroimaging study to directly investigate anticipatory postural adjustments and to explicitly partition the anticipatory and volitional aspects of brain activity in bimanual load lifting. These data contribute to our understanding of the neural systems supporting anticipatory postural adjustments in healthy adults.
authors.affiliation: Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence in Cognition and Its Disorders, Macquarie University, New South Wales 2109, Australia; Division of Psychology, Nanyang Technological University School of Humanities & Social Sciences, HSS-04-26, 14 Nanyang Drive, 637332, Singapore. Electronic address: tommyng@ntu.edu.sg.
authors.forename: Tommy H B
authors.initials: TH
authors.lastname: Ng
authors.affiliation: Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence in Cognition and Its Disorders, Macquarie University, New South Wales 2109, Australia.
authors.forename: Paul F
authors.initials: PF
authors.lastname: Sowman
authors.affiliation: Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence in Cognition and Its Disorders, Macquarie University, New South Wales 2109, Australia.
authors.forename: Jon
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Brock
authors.affiliation: Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence in Cognition and Its Disorders, Macquarie University, New South Wales 2109, Australia.
authors.forename: Blake W
authors.initials: BW
authors.lastname: Johnson
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D059031:Anticipation, Psychological / Q000502:physiology*; D001921:Brain / Q000502:physiology*; D001931:Brain Mapping; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D017770:Lifting; D015225:Magnetoencephalography; D008297:Male; D009415:Nerve Net / Q000502:physiology; D011187:Posture / Q000502:physiology*; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology*; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Anticipatory postural adjustments; Beamforming; Bimanual load lifting; Magnetoencephalography; Motor coordination