Psychophysiology of Movement

Instructional objectives: The course is designed to present and psychophysiological and neural aspects of human movement in norm and pathology and focuses primarily upon the conceptual and empirical bases of brain activation preceding and accompanying human cognitive/affective processes and movement.  Students will acquire a firm grasp of the applicability of brain imaging techniques such as MRI, fMRI and MEG/EEG to the areas of human behavior.  In addition, students will acquire basic skill and knowledge regarding the modern hardware and software to perform routine brain imaging measurements and analyses.

B. Course outline:

Part 1.  Basic Principles and Methods of Psychophysiology of Human Behavior

1. Functional neuroanatomy of the brain
- Brodmann’s areas of the brain
- The Cerebral cortex & voluntary movement: origin and course of connections
- The Frontal lobes and theory of mild: concepts from focal lesion research
- The Cerebellum and Cerebellar disorders
- Basal Ganglia and motor-cognitive functions
- Cortico-cortical connections, brain symmetry and behavior
- Brainstem pathways, basic level of arousal and concept of  “consciousness”

2. Electroencephalographic technology
- Instrumentation and procedures of EEG recordings
- 10-20 International system of EEG electrode placement
- Derivation and montages
- Types and sources of noise

3. Sources and origins of EEG activity
- Types of normal EEG activity
- Physiological basis of EEG
- Cerebral cortex & Alpha activity
- Thalamocortical projections
- Thalamic reticular nuclei
- Cortical vs. subcortical driving EEG mechanisms

4. Sources and origins of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) with regards to brain-behavior relationship
- Conventional (anatomical) MRI
- Functional fMRI in motor control and cognition
 -Volumetric spectroscopic imaging (MRS) in studying the brain metabolism

5. Movement recording peripheral devices
- AMTI force platform
- Force transducers
- Accelerometers/goniometers

Part 2. Brain-Behavior Relationship in Norm and Pathology

- Neural plasticity of the human motor cortex & learning
 
- Cortical resource allocation and multiple cognitive-motor task performance

- Cortical control of voluntary movement, posture & balance
 
- Age-related changes in brain and behavior

- Brain abnormalities & movement disorders

Brain plasticity and recovery from stroke
Parkinson’ disease
Psychogenic dystonia
Acute traumatic brain injury (Concussion)

Part 3.  Laboratory experience

1. 32-channel amplifier SYNAMPS
- DC vs. AC amplifiers
- Analog & digital filters
- AD boards and sample rate
- System calibration

2. NeuroScan Software package
- Acquisition
- Edit
- Topology-mapping of

3. EEG signal analysis
- EEG signal stationarity analysis
- Epoching from continuous data set
- Conventional averaging
- FFT
- Wavelet transform
- Coherence analysis
- Graphical representation
- ERP analysis
- Topographic display

Part 4.  Students’ Research Projects

1. EEG preceding and accompanying voluntary hand/fingers movements
- Slow negative Bereitschaftspotentials (BPs)
- Lateralized Readiness Brain Potentials (LRPs)
- Movement Termination Potentials (MTPs)

2. Cortical control of postural movement
- Brain responses to perturbation induced by virtual reality technology
- Cerebral activity related to dual posture-voluntary movement tasks
- Cerebral activity related to dual cognitive-postural tasks

3. Brain electrical activity and affective (avoidance) reactions
- Beta rhythm and affective states
- EEG correlates of avoidance reactions
- EEG and fear responses

4. Perceptual properties of EEG activity
- Stimulus-Response compatibility & ERPs
- Event Related Potentials (ERPs) & P300
- Evoked Potentials in human

5. Hypotheses for Normal and Abnormal EEG
- Wiener Clock Hypothesis for the Alpha Rhythm
- Extrema-Slope Hypothesis
- The Oscillator Model
- The Waking EEG patterns
- The Normal EEG during Sleep

Evaluation methods of the course:  Students will be required to accomplish various assignments and develop a final research paper on a topic of interest.  The final paper will be worth of 60% of the grade, the assignments and class preparation will account for the rest of the final grade.