title: Trade-off between frequency and precision during stepping movements: Kinematic and BOLD brain activation patterns.
abstract: The central nervous system has the ability to adapt our locomotor pattern to produce a wide range of gait modalities and velocities. In reacting to external pacing stimuli, deviations from an individual preferred cadence provoke a concurrent decrease in accuracy that suggests the existence of a trade-off between frequency and precision; a compromise that could result from the specialization within the control centers of locomotion to ensure a stable transition and optimal adaptation to changing environment. Here, we explore the neural correlates of such adaptive mechanisms by visually guiding a group of healthy subjects to follow three comfortable stepping frequencies while simultaneously recording their BOLD responses and lower limb kinematics with the use of a custom-built treadmill device. In following the visual stimuli, subjects adopt a common pattern of symmetric and anti-phase movements across pace conditions. However, when increasing the stimulus frequency, an improvement in motor performance (precision and stability) was found, which suggests a change in the control mode from reactive to predictive schemes. Brain activity patterns showed similar BOLD responses across pace conditions though significant differences were observed in parietal and cerebellar regions. Neural correlates of stepping precision were found in the insula, cerebellum, dorsolateral pons and inferior olivary nucleus, whereas neural correlates of stepping stability were found in a distributed network, suggesting a transition in the control strategy across the stimulated range of frequencies: from unstable/reactive at lower paces (i.e., stepping stability managed by subcortical regions) to stable/predictive at higher paces (i.e., stability managed by cortical regions). Hum Brain Mapp 37:1722-1737, 2016. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
authors: Division of Neuroscience, Neuroimaging Laboratory, Centre for Applied Medical Research (CIMA), University of Navarra, Pamplona, 31008, Spain.
authors: Martin
authors: M
authors: Martínez
authors: Division of Neuroscience, Neurophysiology Laboratory, Centre for Applied Medical Research (CIMA), University of Navarra, Pamplona, 31008, Spain.
authors: Miguel
authors: M
authors: Valencia
authors: Division of Neuroscience, Neuroimaging Laboratory, Centre for Applied Medical Research (CIMA), University of Navarra, Pamplona, 31008, Spain.
authors: Marta
authors: M
authors: Vidorreta
authors: Division of Neuroscience, Neuroimaging Laboratory, Centre for Applied Medical Research (CIMA), University of Navarra, Pamplona, 31008, Spain.
authors: Elkin O
authors: EO
authors: Luis
authors: Division of Neuroscience, Neuroimaging Laboratory, Centre for Applied Medical Research (CIMA), University of Navarra, Pamplona, 31008, Spain.|Division of Research, Fundación Universitaria de Ciencias de la Salud - Hospital de San José, Bogotá D.C., Colombia.
authors: Gabriel
authors: G
authors: Castellanos
authors: Division of Neuroscience, Neuroimaging Laboratory, Centre for Applied Medical Research (CIMA), University of Navarra, Pamplona, 31008, Spain.
authors: Federico
authors: F
authors: Villagra
authors: Division of Neuroscience, Neuroimaging Laboratory, Centre for Applied Medical Research (CIMA), University of Navarra, Pamplona, 31008, Spain.
authors: Maria A
authors: MA
authors: Fernández-Seara
authors: Division of Neuroscience, Neuroimaging Laboratory, Centre for Applied Medical Research (CIMA), University of Navarra, Pamplona, 31008, Spain.|Centro Investigación Biomédica en Red en Enfermedades Neurodegenerativas (CIBERNED), Instituto De Salud Carlos III, Madrid, 28030, Spain.
authors: Maria A
authors: MA
authors: Pastor
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001696:Biomechanical Phenomena; D001921:Brain / Q000098:blood supply* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D001931:Brain Mapping; D005260:Female; D064368:Healthy Volunteers; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D009068:Movement / Q000502:physiology*; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D012146:Rest
keywords: effect of frequency; functional neuroimaging; kinematics; locomotion; lower limb movements; precision; predictive strategy; reactive strategy