Beta-band activity (15-30 Hz) in motor cortex is closely linked to movement-related processing, yet its transient burst dynamics during long-term learning remain poorly understood. We used high-density electroencephalography (HD-EEG) to examine how beta bursts change over nine sessions of a bimanual coordination task, under adaptive and non-adaptive training conditions. Both training conditions led to motor skill learning, with the adaptive group improving more during training, but the non-adaptive group showing better retention. With training, contralateral primary motor cortex showed stronger beta desynchronization during movement and greater synchronization after movement. These changes reflected underlying burst dynamics: post-movement bursts became more temporally confined and consistent, with increased probability and reduced timing variability across sessions. Only the adaptive group showed a session-related increase in burst amplitude. These results demonstrate that beta burst features reorganize with practice, providing a temporally precise neural readout of training progression and revealing how different learning conditions shape cortical dynamics over time.

Contextual interference (CI)—the practice of tasks in a random rather than blocked order—is known to impair immediate performance while enhancing long-term learning and transfer. In simple aiming tasks, CI has been shown to improve movement accuracy. However, whether these greater improvements extend to unpracticed parameters, such as novel distances or the contralateral hand—a relationship informed by schema theory—remains unexplored. Additionally, in non-sequential tasks, CI has been shown to affect processes that are preprogrammed before movement initiation, leaving reaction time and speed unaffected, yet this has not been empirically tested in simple aiming tasks. To address these gaps, we trained thirty-six participants over nine sessions on a computer-based aiming task involving three target distances. Participants were assigned to either a High Contextual Interference (HCI) group, practicing distances in random order, or a Low Contextual Interference (LCI) group, practicing in a blocked order. Performance was assessed in pretest, posttest, and retention sessions under both conditions, with evaluations extending to untrained parameters, including new distances and the contralateral hand. Despite reduced accuracy during training, the HCI group demonstrated significantly higher accuracy in retention and transfer tests compared to the LCI group across both trained and untrained parameters. Consistent with our hypothesis, no differences were observed in reaction time or movement speed, supporting that in simple aiming tasks, CI primarily affects pre-movement initiation processes. These findings confirm the robustness of CI effects in parameterization learning and extend its benefits to unpracticed motor parameters in simple aiming tasks.

Contextual interference (CI) enhances motor learning by practicing skill variations in a random rather than blocked order. It has been demonstrated that performing aiming distances in a random order increased electrophysiological (EEG) markers of perceptual, attentional, and working memory processes. However, only the effect of CI on these markers before training was assessed, without evaluating whether they would decrease with learning in participants trained under the random compared to the blocked condition, indicating enhanced neural efficiency. To address this, 35 participants practiced an aiming task involving three distances over nine sessions across three weeks. They were divided into two groups: one trained with distances in a random order (HCI group) and the other in a blocked order (LCI group). Electrophysiological activity was recorded for all participants in the random condition before and after the training program using a high-density EEG multiscale approach, including topographical, source estimation, and source connectivity analyses. EEG analyses revealed post-training neural dynamic differences between groups. The HCI group showed reduced and shorter P3a-like activity, while the LCI group displayed greater occipito-temporal-frontal gamma-band synchronization. These findings suggest that random practice enhances the efficiency of perceptual and attentional processes, particularly of stimuli discrimination, compared to blocked practice. ### Competing Interest Statement The authors have declared no competing interest.

Contextual interference (CI) enhances learning by practicing motor tasks in a random order rather than a blocked order. One hypothesis suggests that the benefits arise from enhanced early perceptual/attentional processes, while another posits that better learning is due to highly activated mnemonic processes. We used high-density electroencephalography in a multi-scale analysis approach, including topographic analyses, source estimations, and functional connectivity, to examine the intertwined dynamics of attentional and mnemonic processes within short time windows. We recorded scalp activity from 35 participants as they performed an aiming task at three different distances, under both random and blocked conditions using a crossover design. Our results showed that topographies associated with processes related to perception/attention (N1, P3a) and working memory (P3b) were more pronounced in the random condition. Source estimation analyses supported these findings, revealing greater involvement of the perceptual ventral pathway, anterior cingulate and parietal cortices, along with increased functional connectivity in ventral alpha and frontoparietal theta band networks during random practice. Our results suggest that CI is driven, in the random compared to the blocked condition, by enhanced specific processes such as perceptual, attentional, and working memory processes, as well as large-scale functional networks sustaining more general attentional and executive processes.

Associative learning abilities vary considerably among individuals, with attentional processes suggested to play a role in these variations. However, the relationship between attentional processes and individual differences in associative learning remains unclear, and whether these variations reflect in event-related potentials (ERPs) is unknown. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between attentional processes and associative learning by recording electrocortical activity of 38 young adults (18–32 years) during an associative learning task. Learning performance was assessed using the signal detection index d’. EEG topographic analyses and source localizations were applied to examine the neural correlates of attention and associative learning. Results revealed that better learning scores are associated with (1) topographic differences during early (126–148 ms) processing of the stimulus, coinciding with a P1 ERP component, which corresponded to a participation of the precuneus (BA 7), (2) topographic differences at 573–638 ms, overlapping with an increase of global field power at 530–600 ms, coinciding with a P3b ERP component and localized within the superior frontal gyrus (BA11) and (3) an increase of global field power at 322–507 ms, underlay by a stronger participation of the middle occipital gyrus (BA 19). These insights into the neural mechanisms underlying individual differences in associative learning suggest that better learners engage attentional processes more efficiently than weaker learners, making more resources available and displaying increased functional activity in areas involved in early attentional processes (BA7) and decision-making processes (BA11) during an associative learning task. This highlights the crucial role of attentional mechanisms in individual learning variability.

Higher cardiorespiratory fitness is associated with an increased ability to perform sustained attention tasks and detect rare and unpredictable signals over prolonged periods. The electrocortical dynamics underlying this relationship were mainly investigated after visual stimulus onset in sustained attention tasks. Prestimulus electrocortical activity supporting differences in sustained attention performance according to the level of cardiorespiratory fitness have yet to be examined. Consequently, this study aimed to investigate EEG microstates 2 seconds before the stimulus onset in 65 healthy individuals aged 18-37, differing in cardiorespiratory fitness, while performing a psychomotor vigilance task. The analyses showed that a lower duration of the microstate A and a higher occurrence of the microstate D correlated with higher cardiorespiratory fitness in the prestimulus periods. In addition, increased global field power and occurrence of microstate A were associated with slower response times in the psychomotor vigilance task, while greater global explained variance, coverage, and occurrence of microstate D were linked to faster response times. Our collective findings showed that individuals with higher cardiorespiratory fitness exhibit typical electrocortical dynamics that allow them to allocate their attentional resources more efficiently when engaged in sustained attention tasks.

Introduction The stopping of a planned motor response is called motor inhibitory control (IC) and allows humans to produce appropriate goal-directed behaviour. The ever-changing environment of many sports requires athletes to rapidly adapt to unpredictable situations in which split-second suppressions of planned or current actions are needed. Methods In this scoping review, the approach of the PRISMA-ScR was used to determine whether sports practice develops IC and, if so, which sports factors are key to building IC expertise. The PubMed, Web of Science Core Collection, ScienceDirect and APA PsycNet Advanced Search databases were searched with predefined combinations of keywords. Results Twenty-six articles were selected and analysed. Most of the publications (n = 21) compared athletes with non-athletes, or athletes from other sports. Only a few articles (n = 5) reported results from intra-sport comparison. Overall, the studies reported better IC performance in athletes compared to non-athletes. Discussion/Conclusion The correlational link from sports practice to IC improvement is observed but additional longitudinal protocols are needed to prove its direct link. Findings have implication for determining whether IC could represent a marker of performance and thus for supporting the implementation of cognitive training in sport.

Inhibitory control (IC), the ability to suppress inappropriate actions, can be improved by regularly facing complex and dynamic situations requiring flexible behaviors, such as in the context of intensive sport practice. However, researchers have not clearly determined whether and how this improvement in IC transfers to ecological and nonecological computer-based tasks. We explored the spatiotemporal dynamics of changes in the brain activity of three groups of athletes performing sport-nonspecific and sport-specific Go/NoGo tasks with video footages of table tennis situations to address this question. We compared table tennis players (n = 20), basketball players (n = 20) and endurance athletes (n = 17) to identify how years of practicing a sport in an unpredictable versus predictable environment shape the IC brain networks and increase the transfer effects to untrained tasks. Overall, the table tennis group responded faster than the two other groups in both Go/NoGo tasks. The electrical neuroimaging analyses performed in the sport-specific Go/NoGo task revealed that this faster response time was supported by an early engagement of brain structures related to decision-making processes in a time window where inhibition processes typically occur. Our collective findings have relevant applied perspectives, as they highlight the importance of designing more ecological domain-related tasks to effectively capture the complex decision-making processes acquired in real-life situations. Finally, the limited effects from sport practice to laboratory-based tasks found in this study question the utility of cognitive training intervention, whose effects would remain specific to the practice environment.

Cardiorespiratory fitness is thought to be positively related to sustained attention. However, the underlying mechanisms of this relationship have yet to be fully elucidated. The objective of this study was to i) explore the relationship between cardiorespiratory fitness and sustained attention in 72 young adults (18-37 years old) and ii) provide insight on the electrocortical dynamics supporting sustained attention performance in individuals differing in cardiorespiratory fitness by means of EEG topographic analyses and source localization. Behaviorally, cardiorespiratory fitness was related to faster response times and higher accuracy in the psychomotor vigilance task even when adjusting the model with confounding variables such as age, body mass index and chronic physical activity. However, there was no relationship between cardiorespiratory fitness and the classic vigilance decrement observed in the sustained attention task. At the electrocortical level, higher cardiorespiratory fitness was related to increased global field power (310-333 ms poststimulus) localized in the posterior cingulate cortex (BA 30) followed by changes in scalp topographies around the P3b ERP component (413-501 ms poststimulus), which corresponded to earlier activation of the supplementary motor areas (BA 6). This is the first study using high-density EEG, which harnesses the whole spatiotemporal dynamics of the relationship between cardiorespiratory fitness and sustained attention in young adults.

This study aimed to investigate the impact of an extreme mountain ultramarathon (MUM) on spontaneous electrical brain activity in a group of 16 finishers. By using 4-minute high-density electroencephalographic (EEG) recordings with eyes closed before and after a 330-km race (mean duration: 125 +/- 17 h; sleep duration: 7.7 +/- 2.9 h), spectral power, source localization and microstate analyses were conducted. After the race, power analyses revealed a centrally localized increase in power in the delta (0.5-3.5 Hz) and theta (4.0-7.5 Hz) frequency bands and a decrease in alpha (8.0-12.0 Hz) power at the parieto-occipital sites. Higher brain activation in the alpha frequency band was observed within the left posterior cingulate cortex, left angular gyrus and visual association areas. Microstate analyses indicated a significant decrease in map C predominance and an increase in the global field power (GFP) for map D at the end of the race. These changes in power patterns and microstate parameters contrast with previously reported findings following short bouts of endurance exercises. We discuss the potential factors that explain lower alpha activity within the parieto-occipital regions and microstate changes after MUMs. In conclusion, high-density EEG resting-state analyses can be recommended to investigate brain adaptations in extreme sporting activities.

Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) applied at the same intensity for an entire group of people results in wide interindividual variability, limiting stimulation efficacy. Evidence suggests that tDCS efficacy might be linked to individual corticospinal excitability (CSE) levels measured by transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS). However, no study has attempted to individualize tDCS parameters according to the CSE level. We aimed to investigate whether the tDCS effect could be improved by individualizing stimulation intensity based on CSE measured at baseline. Fourteen participants were included in a crossover single-blinded design study where anodal (1 mA), individualized anodal (between 0.9 and 1.6 mA) and sham tDCS were applied for 14 min over the primary motor cortex. The resting motor threshold (RMT), stimulus intensity for a 1 mV response (SI1mV) and the input-output curve (I–O curve) were measured before, immediately after, 15 after and 30 min after tDCS using single pulses of TMS. The tDCS intensity in the individualized anodal condition was determined according to the RMT value at baseline (i.e., CSE level). RMT, SI1mV and I–O curve MEPs did not change after any tDCS paradigm. Our results are consistent with previous investigations that did not show an effect of tDCS on CSE and supports that tDCS protocols suffer from large interindividual variability and a lack of efficiency. This calls for further investigations to find the optimal tDCS setting to reduce the inconsistency in the results and obtain reproducible effects.

Motor inhibitory control (IC), the ability to suppress unwanted actions, has been previously shown to rely on domain-general IC processes that are involved in a wide range of IC tasks. Nevertheless, the existence of effector-specific regions and activation patterns that would differentiate manual vs. oculomotor response inhibition remains unknown. In this study, we investigated the brain dynamics supporting these two response effectors with the same IC task paradigm. We examined the behavioral performance and electrophysiological activity in a group of healthy young people (n = 25) with a Go/NoGo task using the index finger for the manual modality and the eyes for the oculomotor modality. By computing topographic analysis of variance, we found significant differences between topographies of scalp recorded potentials of the two response effectors between 250 and 325 ms post-stimulus onset. The source estimations localized this effect within the left precuneus, a part of the superior parietal lobule, showing stronger activity in the oculomotor modality than in the manual modality. Behaviorally, we found a significant positive correlation in response time between the two modalities. Our collective results revealed that while domain-general IC processes would be engaged across different response effectors in the same IC task, effector-specific activation patterns exist. In this case, the stronger activation of the left precuneus likely accounts for the increased demand for visual attentional processes in the oculomotor Go/NoGo task.

Mirror movements (MM) refer to involuntary contractions occurring in homologous muscles contralateral to the voluntary movements. In right-handers, greater MM occur in the right hand during movements of the non-dominant left hand than conversely. However, it remains to know if such behavioural asymmetry of MM relies only on motor processes or if it is also related to attentional and executive processes. This study explores MM behavioural asymmetry and its cerebral correlates with electroencephalography in 14 right-handed healthy adults. We investigated the quantity and the intensity of MM and the associated task-related power changes in the beta band over central regions (motor processes), in the alpha band over the parietal regions (attentional processes) and in the theta band over frontal regions (executive processes). Behavioural results revealed greater MM in the right hand when the left hand was active than the reverse. This behavioural asymmetry was associated with asymmetry in the cortical activations over motor areas. Greater MM in the right hand correlated with activation over the contralateral left motor region, revealing that selective inhibition of one hand induced activation of the motor cortex leading to MM. In addition, increased cortical activations over parietal and fronto-mesial regions suggest that an increase of attentional and executive processes is required to inhibit one hand, independently of its side. All in all, this study highlights that side-specific motor and non-side-specific attentional and executive processes are associated to the MM asymmetry.

Anticipation is the ability to accurately predict future actions or events ahead of the act itself. When attempting to anticipate, researchers have identified that at least two broad sources of information are used: contextual information relating to the situation in question; and biological motion from postural cues. However, the neural correlates associated with the processing of these different sources of information across groups varying in expertise has yet to be examined empirically. We compared anticipation performance and electrophysiological activity in groups of expert (n = 12) and novice (n = 15) performers using a video-based task. Participants made anticipation judgements after being presented information under three conditions: contextual information only; kinematic information only; and both sources of information combined. The experts responded more accurately across all three conditions. Stronger alpha event-related desynchronization over occipital and frontocentral sites occurred in experts compared to the novices when anticipating. The experts relied on stronger preparatory attentional mechanisms when they processed contextual information. When kinematic information was available, the domain specific motor representations built up over many years of practice likely underpinned expertise. Our findings have implications for those interested in identifying and subsequently, enhancing the neural mechanisms involved in anticipation.

How executive function training paradigms can be effectively designed to promote a transfer of the effects of interventions to untrained tasks remains unclear. Here, we tested the hypothesis that training with a complex task involving motor, perceptual and task-set control components would result in more transfer than training with a simple motor control task, because the Complex training would lead to more involvement-and in turn modification-of domain-general executive control networks. We compared performance and electrophysiological activity before and after 10 days of executive control training with the complex (n = 18) versus the simple task (n = 17). We further assessed the effect of the two training regimens on untrained executive tasks involving or not one of the trained control components. A passive control group (n = 19) was used to assess retest effects. Both training groups improved at the trained task but exhibited different plastic changes within left-lateralized and medial frontal areas at 200-250 ms post-stimulus onset. However, contrary to our hypotheses, they showed equivalent improvement to the passive group to the transfer tasks. Our collective results reveal that the effect of training with a task involving multiple executive control components is highly specific to the trained task, even when the training modifies the functional networks underlying the trained executive components. Our findings corroborate current evidence that general cognitive enhancement cannot be achieved with training, even when the interventions modify domain-general brain areas.

This clinical case report presents synchronous physiological data from an individual in whom a spontaneous vasovagal reaction occurred without syncope. The physiological data are presented for three main phases: Baseline (0-200 s), vasovagal reaction (200-600 s), and recovery period (600-1200 s). The first physiological changes occurred at around 200 s, with a decrease in blood pressure, peak in heart rate and vastus lateralis tissue oxygenation, and a drop in alpha power. The vasovagal reaction was associated with a progressive decrease in blood pressure, heart rate and cerebral oxygenation, whilst the mean middle cerebral artery blood flow velocity and blood oxygen saturation remained unchanged. Heart rate variability parameters indicated significant parasympathetic activation with a decrease in sympathetic tone and increased baroreflex sensitivity. The total blood volume and tissue oxygenation index (TOI) dropped in the brain but slightly increased in the vastus lateralis, suggesting cerebral hypoperfusion with blood volume pooling in the lower body part. Cerebral hypoperfusion during the vasovagal reaction was associated with electroencephalography (EEG) flattening (i.e., decreased power in beta and theta activity) followed by an EEG high-amplitude "slow" phase (i.e., increased power in theta activity). The subject developed signs and symptoms of pre-syncope with EEG flattening and slowing during prolonged periods of symptomatic hypotension, but did not lose consciousness.

Recent findings suggest that an acute physical exercise modulates the temporal features of the EEG resting microstates, especially the microstate map C duration and relative time coverage. Microstate map C has been associated with the salience resting state network, which is mainly structured around the insula and cingulate, two brain nodes that mediate cardiovascular arousal and interoceptive awareness. Heart rate variability (HRV) is dependent on the autonomic balance; specifically, an increase in the sympathetic (or decrease in the parasympathetic) tone will decrease variability while a decrease in the sympathetic (or increase in the parasympathetic) tone will increase variability. Relying on the functional interaction between the autonomic cardiovascular activity and the salience network, this study aims to investigate the effect of exercise on the resting microstate and the possible interplay with this autonomic cardiovascular recovery after a single bout of endurance exercise. Thirty-eight young adults performed a 25-min constant-load cycling exercise at an intensity that was subjectively perceived as "hard." The microstate temporal features and conventional time and frequency domain HRV parameters were obtained at rest for 5 min before exercise and at 5, 15, 30, 45, and 60 min after exercise. Compared to the baseline, all HRV parameters were changed 5 min after exercise cessation. The mean durations of microstate B and C, and the frequency of occurrence of microstate D were also changed immediately after exercise. A long-lasting effect was found for almost all HRV parameters and for the duration of microstate C during the hour following exercise, indicating an uncompleted recovery of the autonomic cardiovascular system and the resting microstate. The implication of an exercise-induced afferent neural traffic is discussed as a potential modulator of both the autonomic regulation of heart rate and the resting EEG microstate.

Background: The purpose of this study was to compare the accuracy of a smartphone application and a mechanical pedometer for step counting at different walking speeds and mobile phone locations in a laboratory context. Methods: Seventeen adults wore an iPphone6 (c) with Runtastic Pedometer (c) application (RUN), at 3 different locations (belt, arm, jacket) and a pedometer (YAM) at the waist. They were asked to walk on an instrumented treadmill (reference) at various speeds (2, 4 and 6 km/h). Results: RUN was more accurate than YAM at 2 km/h (p < 0.05) and at 4 km/h (p = 0.03). At 6 km/h the two devices were equally accurate. The precision of YAM increased with speed (p < 0.05), while for RUN, the results were not significant but showed a trend (p = 0.051). Surprisingly, YAM underestimates the number of step by 60.5% at 2 km/h. The best accurate step counting (0.7% mean error) was observed when RUN is attached to the arm and at the highest speed. Conclusions: RUN pedometer application could be recommended mainly for walking sessions even for low walking speed. Moreover, our results confirm that the smartphone should be strapped close to the body to discriminate steps from noise by the accelerometers (particularly at low speed). (C) 2018 The Society of Chinese Scholars on Exercise Physiology and Fitness. Published by Elsevier (Singapore) Pte Ltd.

Electrical neuroimaging is a promising method to explore the spontaneous brain function after physical exercise. The present study aims to investigate the effect of acute physical exercise on the temporal dynamic of the resting brain activity captured by the four conventional map topographies (microstates) described in the literature, and to associate these brain changes with the post-exercise neuromuscular function. Twenty endurance-trained subjects performed a 30-min biking task at 60% of their maximal aerobic power followed by a 10 km all-out time trial. Before and after each exercise, knee-extensor neuromuscular function and resting EEG were collected. Both exercises resulted in a similar increase in microstate class C stability and duration, as well as an increase in transition probability of moving toward microstate class C. After the first exercise, the increase in class C global explained variance was correlated with the indice of muscle alterations (100 Hz paired stimuli). After the second exercise, the increase in class C mean duration was correlated with the 100 Hz paired stimuli, but also with the reduction in maximal voluntary force. Interestingly, microstate class C has been associated with the salience resting-state network, which participates in integrating multisensory modalities. We speculate that temporal reorganization of the brain state after exercise could be partially modulated by the muscle afferents that project into the salience resting-state network, and indirectly participates in modulating the motor behavior.