Sensorimotor Control and Learning Lab members (SCiLL) drew significance from the ~23,000 attendees during their research presentations at the 2022 Society for Neuroscience (SFN) Annual Meeting. The meeting was held from November 11-15 in San Diego, California.
Kylee Graham's poster, titled "The effect of transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) pulse width on the sensorimotor integration temporal window: A short-latency afferent inhibition study", used cutting-edge non-invasive brain stimulation technology to investigate the sensory to motor transformations that guide skilled movement. Kylee's research identified that the temporal windows during which sensory information is integrated into motor commands differ for various pathways carrying sensory information to the motor cortex. Further, these sensory-to-motor integration windows vary depending on whether the brain is at rest or monitoring an ongoing behaviour.
Nick Barclay's poster, titled "The contribution of oscillatory activity to the modulation of different sensorimotor circuits under varying working memory load" combined controllable pulse parameter TMS (cTMS) with electroencephalography (EEG) to investigate the conscious-subconscious interactions during sensory-to-motor integration. Nick's work identified specific sensory-to-motor pathways that are sensitive to how we use working memory during skilled motor behaviours. These specific sensory-to-motor pathways provide a potential way for our conscious choices during skilled motor behaviours to alter how the brain controls these movements.
Kara Hayes's poster, titled "The response of distinct sensorimotor circuits in motor cortex to valid and invalid cues during a cued response task," identified the different functions of two sensory-to-motor loops immediately before and during skilled movement. Kara's work identified one loop changes how sensory information is used to guide behaviour depending on the specific muscles required to affect the behaviour. This sensory-to-motor loop is complemented by a second loop that changes how sensory information is used to guide behaviour depending on the context of the behaviour.
Madison Khan's poster, titled "Effects of Acute Aerobic Exercise on Motor Cortex Plasticity in Individuals With a Concussion History" used a non-invasive brain stimulation method known as paired-associative stimulation to investigate the effect of aerobic exercise on the brain's potential to reorganize itself in those with a history of concussion. Madison identified that exercise does have beneficial effects on brain plasticity. But, unfortunately, the beneficial effects of exercise do not significantly alter the potential for brain plasticity in the specific brain pathways impacted by concussion history.