title: Freely Chosen Index Finger Tapping Frequency Is Increased in Repeated Bouts of Tapping.
abstract: Healthy individuals (n = 40) performed index finger tapping at freely chosen frequency during repeated bouts and before and after near-maximal muscle action consisting of 3 intense flexions of the index finger metacarpal phalangeal joint. One experiment showed, unexpectedly, that a bout of tapping increased the tapping frequency in the subsequent bout. Thus, a cumulating increase of 8.2 ± 5.4% (p < .001) occurred across 4 bouts, which were all separated by 10 min rest periods. Follow-up experiments revealed that tapping frequency was still increased in consecutive bouts when rest periods were extended to 20 min. Besides, near-maximal muscle activation, followed by 5 min rest, did not affect the tapping frequency. In conclusion, freely chosen tapping frequency was increased in repeated bouts of tapping, which were separated by 10-20 min rest periods. The observed phenomenon is suggested to be termed repeated bout rate enhancement.
authors: a Center for Sensory-Motor Interaction, Aalborg University , Denmark.
authors: Ernst Albin
authors: EA
authors: Hansen
authors: Brian Duborg
authors: BD
authors: Ebbesen
authors: Ane
authors: A
authors: Dalsgaard
authors: Mark Holten
authors: MH
authors: Mora-Jensen
authors: Jakob
authors: J
authors: Rasmussen
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D005384:Finger Joint / Q000502:physiology; D050278:Finger Phalanges / Q000502:physiology; D005385:Fingers / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D018482:Muscle, Skeletal / Q000502:physiology; D011214:Practice, Psychological; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: finger tapping rate; movement control; movement rate; postactivation potentiation; voluntary motor behavior