Neurofunctional correlates of eye to hand motor transfer

• Published in: Human brain mapping Vol. 41; no. 10; pp. 2656 - 2668
• Main Authors: Modroño, Cristián, Socas, Rosario, Hernández‐Martín, Estefanía, Plata‐Bello, Julio, Marcano, Francisco, Pérez‐González, José M., González‐Mora, José L.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Hoboken, USA John Wiley & Sons, Inc 01.07.2020
• Subjects: Basal ganglia; brain mapping; Cerebellum; Cortex (motor); Eye movements; fMRI; Functional magnetic resonance imaging; Ganglia; Human motion; Learning; Magnetic resonance imaging; motor activity; motor cortex; Motor skill learning; Motor systems; Movement disorders; Neuroimaging; Neurology; Neurophysiology; neurorehabilitation; Rehabilitation; Sensorimotor system; Tracking control; Tracking systems; Training; Training evaluation; Transfer learning; transfer of learning; upper limb; brain mapping; fMRI; basal ganglia; motor cortex; upper limb; eye movements; transfer of learning; cerebellum; neurorehabilitation; motor activity
• ISSN: 1065-9471; 1097-0193
• DOI: 10.1002/hbm.24969

This work investigates the transfer of motor learning from the eye to the hand and its neural correlates by using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and a sensorimotor task consisting of the continuous tracking of a virtual target. In pretraining evaluation, all the participants (experimental and control group) performed the tracking task inside an MRI scanner using their right hand and a joystick. After which, the experimental group practiced an eye‐controlled version of the task for 5 days using an eye tracking system outside the MRI environment. Post‐training evaluation was done 1 week after the first scanning session, where all the participants were scanned again while repeating the manual pretraining task. Behavioral results show that the training in the eye‐controlled task produced a better performance not only in the eye‐controlled modality (motor learning) but also in the hand‐controlled modality (motor transfer). Neural results indicate that eye to hand motor transfer is supported by the motor cortex, the basal ganglia and the cerebellum, which is consistent with previous research focused on other effectors. These results may be of interest in neurorehabilitation to activate the motor systems and help in the recovery of motor functions in stroke or movement disorder patients.