A methodological study for the multifactorial assessment of motor adaptation: Integration of kinematic and neural factors

The aim of this work was to design a multimodal approach for the investigation of the different factors Motor Learning involves (e.g. planning, execution, correction, ...). Attention was focused onto the issue of Motor Adaptation (MA), which takes place when learning of a partially (but not completely) new motor strategy is needed. We hereby present a report about the methodological set-up which has been developed and tested for the investigation of motor adaptation during repetitive pointing tasks. We exploited the potentialities of the combined use of electroencephalographic and motion analysis techniques to find possible relation between the activity of the central nervous system and the neuro-musculo-skeletal one. The adaptation-related changes in oscillatory brain activity and movement kinematics were monitored during a visually-guided, feedback-controlled, sequence of pointing tasks. Our preliminary results suggest that the proposed protocol: (i) can discern modifications of brain activity in the alpha and beta frequency bands; (ii) is sensible to kinematic alterations; and, (iii), allows a quantitative evaluation of performance in terms of both final result and motor patterns. In this work we identified a bunch of possible neuro-motor biomarkers, which we propose as possible indicators of adaptation.