Department of Biomedical Engineering, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA 15213, USA.
Center for Neuromotor and Biomechanics Research, Department of Health and Human Performance, University of Houston, Houston, TX 77204, USA.
Sensors (Basel). 2024 Oct 15;24(20):6645. doi: 10.3390/s24206645.
Although significant progress has been made in understanding the cortical correlates underlying balance control, these studies focused on a single task, limiting the ability to generalize the findings. Different balance tasks may elicit cortical activations in the same regions but show different levels of activation because of distinct underlying mechanisms. In this study, twenty young, neurotypical adults were instructed to maintain standing balance while the standing support surface was either translated or rotated. The differences in cortical activations in the frontocentral region between these two widely used tasks were examined using electroencephalography (EEG). Additionally, the study investigated whether transcranial magnetic stimulation could modulate these cortical activations during the platform translation task. Higher delta and lower alpha relative power were found over the frontocentral region during the platform translation task when compared to the platform rotation task, suggesting greater engagement of attentional and sensory integration resources for the former. Continuous theta burst stimulation over the supplementary motor area significantly reduced delta activity in the frontocentral region but did not alter alpha activity during the platform translation task. The results provide a direct comparison of neural activations between two commonly used balance tasks and are expected to lay a strong foundation for designing neurointerventions for balance improvements with effects generalizable across multiple balance scenarios.
尽管在理解平衡控制的皮质相关性方面已经取得了重大进展，但这些研究都集中在单一任务上，限制了发现的推广能力。不同的平衡任务可能会在相同的区域引起皮质激活，但由于不同的潜在机制，激活水平可能不同。在这项研究中，二十名年轻的、神经典型的成年人被要求在站立支撑面被平移或旋转时保持站立平衡。使用脑电图（EEG）检查了这两种广泛使用的任务之间在额中央区域的皮质激活差异。此外，该研究还调查了经颅磁刺激是否可以在平台平移任务期间调节这些皮质激活。与平台旋转任务相比，在平台平移任务期间，额中央区域的 delta 和 alpha 相对功率更高，表明前者需要更多的注意力和感觉整合资源。在辅助运动区进行连续 theta 爆发刺激显著降低了额中央区域的 delta 活动，但在平台平移任务期间并没有改变 alpha 活动。该结果直接比较了两种常用平衡任务之间的神经激活，有望为设计神经干预措施以改善平衡提供坚实的基础，这些措施在多个平衡场景下具有可推广的效果。
