Projects
Is there a motor reserve in the cerebellum? KU Leuven
As young adults, people normally do not experience problems with the control over their movements. However, even during healthy aging, motor control problems occur and things that used to be natural like learning a new movement or judging the force needed to pick up a bottle can become problematic. But what are the underlying mechanisms of these changes?
Following a leading theory in this field, it is thought that the control of our ...
HI(I)T it! The neurophysiological basis of high-intensity interval training for enhancing motor learning and memory consolidation in young and older adults. KU Leuven
Healthy aging is associated with a progressive decline in motor function. Hence, interventions promoting prolonged independent functioning are of utmost importance. This has sparked interest in non-pharmacological, low-risk approaches targeting excitatory and inhibitory mechanisms that are known to be akin to synaptic plasticity and motor memory consolidation. One exciting avenue is to prime initial memory formation processes through the ...
Autonomous reconfiguration of electrical modular motor drives Ghent University
Modular motor drives are composed of several identical stator windings, equipped with a dedicated power converter and controller, making them particularly suitable to meet the need for flexibility and reliability. To exploit the full range of possibilities of these drives, not only the hardware (i.e. the motor and the power electronics) should be modular, but also the control. Therefore, in this research, distributed control will be applied ...
Aging, inhibition and motor learning: a multimodal imaging approach for the study of neurochemistry and brain network interactions KU Leuven
The capacity to learn new motor skills declines with aging, affecting the quality of life and functional independence in older adults. These declines are partly caused by age-related changes in the brain. However, it remains unclear how age-related changes in the brain’s neurochemical composition and alterations in the functional interactions between brain regions account for the degraded motor learning abilities in older adults. Here, I use ...
Delineation of effector-specific representations in motor cortex and their structural/functional connectivity. KU Leuven
In many daily activities such as tying your shoelaces, driving a car or playing a musical instrument, a high degree of collaboration between the hands and fingers is critically important. Although it is well known that a dynamic network of various brain areas, including the corpus callosum (CC), is involved in the control of such bilateral movements, its exact neural organization remains a relatively unknown territory. Therefore, I will ...
Aging and brain plasticity: alterations in brain structure, function and connectivity during motor coordination. KU Leuven
Local and global network interactions in the aging brain and their effect on motor performance KU Leuven
Normal aging is accompanied by a decline in motor functions, which affect the quality of life. These changes are caused by age-related changes in the brain. It remains unclear how age-related changes in brain structure, function, and connectivity influence motor performance. We study how these changes in structural and functional brain interactions can explain deficits in motor functioning. On the one hand, we focus on the interaction between ...
Schema and motor memory: A multimodal neuroimaging investigation KU Leuven
Every day we live new experiences, learn new information and form new memories. The speed with which we acquire new knowledge critically depends on what we already know: new information is rapidly learned when it is consistent with previously learned knowledge (i.e., an acquired schema). This is the essence of the “schema effect” of memory, which has been amply characterized for memories of facts or events (declarative memory) but scarcely ...
Predicting the rate of motor adaptation using cognitive and neural measures KU Leuven
Learning motor skills is associated with penetration of cognition into action, particularly in older adults and patients suffering from brain insults. This demonstrates that motor and cognitive functions are closely intertwined and this should inspire therapeutic intervention. So far, that the study of motor and cognitive functions have developed in relative isolation from each other. However, the investigation of the link between action and ...