The current study investigated the rhythmic coordination between vocalization and whole-body movement. Previous studies have reported that spatiotemporal stability in rhythmic movement increases when coordinated with a rhythmic auditory stimulus or other effector in a stable coordination pattern. Therefore, the present study conducted two experiments to investigate (1) whether there is a stable...

The basal ganglia play an important role in beat perception and patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) are impaired in perception of beat-based rhythms. Rhythmic cues are nonetheless beneficial in gait rehabilitation, raising the question how rhythm improves movement in PD. We addressed this question with magnetoencephalography recordings during a choice response task with rhythmic and non-rhyt...

Neuronal coupling between the arms and legs allowing coordinated rhythmic movement during locomotion is poorly understood. We used the modulation of cutaneous reflexes to probe this neuronal coupling between the arms and legs using a cycling paradigm. Participants performed rhythmic cycling with arms, legs, or arms and legs together. We hypothesized that any contributions from the arms would be...

Humans have a unique ability to coordinate their motor movements to an external auditory stimulus, as in music-induced foot tapping or dancing. This behavior currently engages the attention of scholars across a number of disciplines. However, very little is known about its earliest manifestations. The aim of the current research was to examine whether preverbal infants engage in rhythmic behavi...

of a thesis at the University of Miami. Parkinson's disease is a neurodegenerative disease caused by a loss of dopamine-producing neurons in the basal ganglia. Primary motor deficits include resting tremor, bradykinesia, muscular rigidity, and postural instability. Most importantly, patients have difficulty both initiating movements and performing well-timed movements. This study explored the e...

It was shown some time ago that cutaneous reflexes were phase-reversed when comparing forward and backward treadmill walking. Activity of central-pattern-generating networks (CPG) regulating neural activity for locomotion was suggested as a mechanism involved in this "program reversal." We have been investigating the neural control of arm movements and the role for CPG mechanisms in regulating ...