Zich Catharina, Debener Stefan, De Vos Maarten, Frerichs Stella, Maurer Stefanie, Kranczioch Cornelia
Neuropsychology Lab, Department of Psychology, European Medical School, University of Oldenburg, Germany.
Neuropsychology Lab, Department of Psychology, European Medical School, University of Oldenburg, Germany; Cluster of Excellence Hearing4all, University of Oldenburg, Germany; Research Center Neurosensory Systems, University of Oldenburg, Germany.
Neuroimage. 2015 Aug 1;116:80-91. doi: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2015.05.009. Epub 2015 May 12.
The mental practice of movements has been suggested as a promising add-on therapy to facilitate motor recovery after stroke. In the case of mentally practised movements, electroencephalogram (EEG) can be utilized to provide feedback about an otherwise covert act. The main target group for such an intervention are elderly patients, though research so far is largely focused on young populations (<30 years). The present study therefore aimed to examine the influence of age on the neural correlates of covert movements (CMs) in a real-time EEG neurofeedback framework. CM-induced event-related desynchronization (ERD) was studied in young (mean age: 23.6 years) and elderly (mean age: 62.7 years) healthy adults. Participants performed covert and overt hand movements. CMs were based on kinesthetic motor imagery (MI) or quasi-movements (QM). Based on previous studies investigating QM in the mu frequency range (8-13Hz) QM were expected to result in more lateralized ERD% patterns and accordingly higher classification accuracies. Independent of CM strategy the elderly were characterized by a significantly reduced lateralization of ERD%, due to stronger ipsilateral ERD%, and in consequence, reduced classification accuracies. QM were generally perceived as more vivid, but no differences were evident between MI and QM in ERD% or classification accuracies. EEG feedback enhanced task-related activity independently of strategy and age. ERD% measures of overt and covert movements were strongly related in young adults, whereas in the elderly ERD% lateralization is dissociated. In summary, we did not find evidence in support of more pronounced ERD% lateralization patterns in QM. Our finding of a less lateralized activation pattern in the elderly is in accordance to previous research and with the idea that compensatory processes help to overcome neurodegenerative changes related to normal ageing. Importantly, it indicates that EEG neurofeedback studies should place more emphasis on the age of the potential end-users.
运动的心理练习已被认为是一种有前景的辅助疗法，有助于中风后运动功能的恢复。对于心理练习的运动，脑电图（EEG）可用于提供关于原本隐蔽行为的反馈。这种干预的主要目标群体是老年患者，不过迄今为止的研究主要集中在年轻人群（<30岁）。因此，本研究旨在探讨年龄对实时EEG神经反馈框架中隐蔽运动（CMs）神经相关性的影响。在年轻（平均年龄：23.6岁）和老年（平均年龄：62.7岁）健康成年人中研究了CM诱发的事件相关去同步化（ERD）。参与者进行隐蔽和公开的手部运动。CM基于动觉运动想象（MI）或准运动（QM）。基于先前在μ频率范围（8 - 13Hz）研究QM的研究，预计QM会导致更具侧化性的ERD%模式，从而具有更高的分类准确率。与CM策略无关，老年人的特征是ERD%的侧化明显降低，这是由于同侧ERD%更强，结果分类准确率降低。QM通常被认为更生动，但在ERD%或分类准确率方面，MI和QM之间没有明显差异。EEG反馈独立于策略和年龄增强了与任务相关的活动。在年轻人中，公开和隐蔽运动的ERD%测量值密切相关，而在老年人中，ERD%的侧化是分离的。总之，我们没有找到支持QM中更明显的ERD%侧化模式的证据。我们发现老年人激活模式的侧化程度较低，这与先前的研究一致，也符合补偿过程有助于克服与正常衰老相关的神经退行性变化的观点。重要的是，这表明EEG神经反馈研究应更加强调潜在最终用户的年龄。
