Showing papers by "Gert Pfurtscheller published in 2014"
TL;DR: Preliminary results suggest that slow hemodynamic changes in SMA and insula may condition the initiation of a voluntary movement at free will.
Abstract: Recently we hypothesized that the intention to initiate a voluntary movement at free will may be related to the dynamics of hemodynamic variables, which may be supported by the intertwining of networks for the timing of voluntary movements and the control of cardiovascular variables in the insula. In the present study voluntary movements of 3 healthy subjects were analyzed using fMRI scans at 1.83-s intervals along with the time course of slow hemodynamic changes in sensorimotor networks. For the analyses of BOLD time courses the Wavelet transform coherence (WTC) and calculation of phase-locking values were used. Analyzed was the frequency band between 0.07 and 0.13 Hz in the supplementary motor area (SMA) and insula, two widely separated regions co-active in motor behavior. BOLD signals displayed slow fluctuations, concentrated around 0.1 Hz whereby the intrinsic oscillations in the insula preceded those in the SMA by 0.5 to 1 seconds. These preliminary results suggest that slow hemodynamic changes in SMA and insula may condition the initiation of a voluntary movement at free will.
5 citations
TL;DR: Results suggest that subjects able to initiate self-paced, voluntary movements at relatively regular intervals of ∼10s show an entrainment potential between physiological oscillations and motor responses, and provides the first evidence that not only physiological oscillation can be entrained to motor responds, but also motor responses (voluntary movements) can beEntrainment to slow intrinsic oscillations.
3 citations