This study investigates the role of the dorsal/sensorimotor striatum in visuomotor integration (i.e., the transformation of internal visual information about letter shapes into motor output) during handwriting. Twenty healthy participants underwent fMRI scanning with tasks consisting of self-paced handwriting of alphabetically ordered single letters and simple dots, with both tasks performed without visual feedback. Functional connectivity (FC) from these two tasks was compared to demonstrate the difference between coordinated activity arising during handwriting and the activity during a simpler motor condition. Our study focused upon the writing-specific cortico-striatal network of preselected regions of interest consisting of the visual word form area (VWFA), anterior intraparietal sulcus/superior parietal lobule, striatum, premotor cortex/Exner's area, and primary and supplementary motor regions. We observed systematically increased task-induced cortico-striatal and cortico-cortical FC. This increased synchronization of neural activity between the VWFA, i.e., the visual cortical area containing information about letter shapes, and the frontoparietal motor regions is mediated by the striatum. These findings suggest the involvement of the striatum in integrating stored letter-shape information with motor planning and execution during handwriting.

• MeSH
• corpus striatum diagnostické zobrazování   fyziologie   MeSH
• dospělí MeSH
• lidé MeSH
• magnetická rezonanční tomografie MeSH
• mladý dospělý MeSH
• mozková kůra diagnostické zobrazování   fyziologie   MeSH
• nervová síť diagnostické zobrazování   fyziologie   MeSH
• pohybová aktivita fyziologie   MeSH
• psaní rukou * MeSH
• psychomotorický výkon fyziologie   MeSH
• rozpoznávání obrazu fyziologie   MeSH
• Check Tag
• dospělí MeSH
• lidé MeSH
• mladý dospělý MeSH
• mužské pohlaví MeSH
• ženské pohlaví MeSH
• Publikační typ
• časopisecké články MeSH
• práce podpořená grantem MeSH

OBJECTIVES: To evaluate effects of a six-month intensive dance-exercise intervention (DI) on cognition and brain structure in a mixed group of healthy seniors and people with mild cognitive impairment. METHODS: Subjects (aged ˃ 60 years with no dementia or depression) were randomly assigned to either a DI group or a life as usual (LAU) group. Detailed neuropsychological testing, measures of physical fitness and brain MRI encompassing T1 structural and diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) were performed at baseline and after 6 months. We assessed changes in cortical thickness and DTI parameters derived from tract-based spatial statistics. RESULTS: Altogether 62 individuals (n = 31 in the DI group) completed the protocol. The groups were matched for their demographic and clinical variables. After 6 months, we found significant cortical thickening in the right inferior temporal, fusiform and lateral occipital regions in the dancers compared to controls. Significant increases of radial and mean diffusivity were observed in various white matter tracts in the dancers; however, no differences were observed between the DI and LAU groups. The DI group as compared to the LAU group showed subtle improvements in executive functions. CONCLUSIONS: We observed DI-induced improvement in executive functions and increases of cortical thickness in the lateral occipitotemporal cortex which is engaged in action observation, visuomotor integration and action imitation, that is activities that are all important for motor learning and executing skilled movements.

• MeSH
• difuzní magnetická rezonance MeSH
• kognice * MeSH
• lidé středního věku MeSH
• lidé MeSH
• mozek * MeSH
• neuropsychologické testy MeSH
• senioři MeSH
• tanec * MeSH
• terapie cvičením metody   MeSH
• Check Tag
• lidé středního věku MeSH
• lidé MeSH
• mužské pohlaví MeSH
• senioři MeSH
• ženské pohlaví MeSH
• Publikační typ
• časopisecké články MeSH
• randomizované kontrolované studie MeSH