BACKGROUND Animal studies indicate forced exercise (FE) improves overall motor function in Parkinsonian rodents. Global improvements in motor function following voluntary exercise (VE) are not widely reported in human Parkinson's disease (PD) patients. OBJECTIVE The aim of this study was to compare the effects of VE and FE on PD symptoms, motor function, and bimanual dexterity. METHODS Ten ...

Although we are beginning to understand how observed actions performed by conspecifics with a single hand are processed and how bimanual actions are controlled by the motor system, we know very little about the processing of observed bimanual actions. We used fMRI to compare the observation of bimanual manipulative actions with their unimanual components, relative to visual control conditions e...

Healthy aging is associated with a variety of functional and structural brain alterations. These age-related brain alterations have been assumed to negatively impact cognitive and motor performance. Especially important for the execution of everyday activities in older adults (OA) is the ability to perform movements that depend on both hands working together. However, bimanual coordination is t...

UNLABELLED Changes in both brain structure and neurophysiological function regulating homotopic as well as heterotopic interhemispheric interactions (IHIs) are assumed to be responsible for the bimanual performance deficits in older adults. However, how the structural and functional networks regulating bimanual performance decline in older adults, as well as the interplay between brain structur...

AIM The aims of this study were twofold: first, to develop and validate a timed test of unimanual and bimanual dexterity suitable for those with disability affecting hand function; second, to explore relationships between unimanual and bimanual completion times. METHOD We developed the Tyneside Pegboard Test (TPT), an electronically timed test with three peg sizes, incorporating an asymmetric...

Whereas the cerebral representation of bimanual spatial coordination has been subject to prior research, the networks mediating bimanual temporal coordination are still unclear. The present study used functional imaging to investigate cerebral networks mediating temporally uncoupled bimanual finger movements. Three bimanual tasks were designed for the execution of movements with different timin...

Simultaneously manipulating the two hands is central to human daily life, from a simple action such as tying one’s shoes to the proficiency of building and using tools. While using both hands in order to reach a common goal does not require extensive effort and is even done automatically, the concurrent generation of two independent movements with different spatiotemporal patterns results often...