Martin Gareth Edwards

Université Catholique de Louvain - UCLouvain | UCLouvain · Psychological Sciences Research Institute

The neural correlates that help us understand the challenges that Parkinson’s patients face when negotiating their environment remain under-researched. This deficit in knowledge reflects the methodological constraints of traditional neuroimaging techniques, which include the need to remain still. As a result, much of our understanding of motor diso...

Introduction: Stroke can result in various impairments that require multidisciplinary rehabilitation. For example, preserved cognitive executive functions predict motor recovery success. Despite knowing these links, the evaluation of executive function in hemiparesis patients remains underexplored. Here, we examined whether post-stroke individuals...

Background: Treisman (1980) proposed that visual-spatial attention to targets presented with distractors involves parallel and serial cognition. When the target is different from distractors by a single feature, the number of distractors does not influence search speed (parallel). However, when the target is different from the distractor by a conj...

Background To plan treatment and measure post-stroke recovery, frequent and time-bounded functional assessments are recommended. With increasing needs for neurorehabilitation advances, new technology based methods, such as virtual reality (VR) have emerged. Here, we developed an immersive VR version of the Action Research Arm Test (ARAT-VR) to comp...

Urban stress is one of today’s most critical health challenges that urban stakeholders need to urgently address. However, while the positive role of nature for mental health and stress level reduction has been widely reported, the role distinct urban green infrastructure design characteristics play in citizen stress level reduction is yet to be und...

The action observation network has been proposed to play a key role in predicting the action intentions (or goals) of others, thereby facilitating social interaction. Key information when interacting with others is whether someone (an agent) is moving towards or away from us, indicating whether we are likely to interact with the person. In addition...

BACKGROUND: It is currently unknown whether motor skill learning (MSkL) with the paretic upper limb is possible during the acute phase after stroke and whether lesion localization impacts MSkL. Here, we investigated MSkL in acute (1–7 days post) stroke patients compared with healthy individuals (HIs) and in relation to voxel-based lesion symptom ma...

Abstract Background After a stroke, experts recommend regular monitoring and kinematic assessments of patients to objectively measure motor recovery. With the rise of new technologies and increasing needs for neurorehabilitation, an interest in virtual reality has emerged. In this context, we have developed an immersive virtual reality version of t...

Background. Due to an increasing stroke incidence, a lack of resources to implement effective rehabilitation and a significant proportion of patients with remaining impairments after treatment, there is a rise in demand for effective and prolonged rehabilitation. Development of self-rehabilitation programs provides an opportunity to meet these incr...

Previous research in vestibular cognition has clearly demonstrated a link between the vestibular system and several cognitive and emotional functions. However, the most coherent results supporting this link come from rodent models and healthy human participants artificial stimulation models. Human research with vestibular-damaged patients shows muc...

The ability to safely negotiate the world on foot takes humans years to develop, reflecting the huge cognitive demands associated with real‐time planning and control of walking. Despite the importance of walking, methodological limitations mean that surprisingly little is known about the neural and cognitive processes that support ambulatory motor...

The aim of this systematic review was, first, to determine whether or not individuals with cognitive deficits after stroke were enrolled in trials that investigated upper limb robot-assisted therapy effectiveness, and, second, whether these trials measured cognitive outcomes. We retrieved 6 relevant systematic reviews covering, altogether, 66 artic...

Developmental dyslexia (DD), a severe and frequent disorder of reading acquisition, is characterized by a diversity of cognitive and motor deficits whose interactions still remain under debate. Although deficits in the automatization of sensorimotor control have been highlighted, internal action representation allowing prediction has never before b...

Background: Recent data collected on adult patients with vestibular loss (VL) tends to demonstrate possible cognitive impairments in visuospatial working memory, mental rotation, selective attention and space orientation. However, the neuropsychological profile of children with VL remains largely under investigated in the scientific literature. Alt...

Background: The impact of vestibular loss (VL) on cognition has been previously studied in experimental animal, human and adult patient studies showing links between VL, and cognitive impairments in space orientation, working memory, mental rotation and selective attention. However, few studies have been conducted on children with VL. Objective:...

Introduction Studies that have investigated cognitive and emotional problems in patients with bilateral vestibular loss have typically used questionnaires, with these regularly showing significant increased complaints compared to control participants. However, currently, no research has explored the specific link between these subjective complaints...

Background: The ROBiGAME project aims to implement serious games on robots to rehabilitate upper limb (UL) motor function in children with cerebral palsy (CP). Serious game characteristics (target position, level of assistance/resistance, level of force) are typically adapted based on the child's assessment before and continuously during the game...

BACKGROUND: ROBiGAME project aims to implement serious games on robots to rehabilitate upper limb (UL) in stroke patients. The serious game characteristics (target position, level of assistance/resistance, level of force) are adapted based on the patient's assessment before and continuously during the game (measuring UL working area, kinematics and...

Imagery research has identified two main visual perspectives, external visual imagery (EVI, third person) and internal visual imagery (IVI, first person). Based upon findings from brain imaging literature showing that different neural substrates are recruited for IVI and EVI perspectives, and that IVI activates motor system brain areas, we hypothes...

Objective: Patients with hemineglect fail to respond to egocentric stimuli or allocentric parts of stimuli contralateral to the brain lesion. The clinical diagnosis of hemineglect mainly involves evaluation of the egocentric form, while less sensitive standardized tests exist for other forms. Our global aim is to develop an innovative integrative...

Background: Research investigating action observation-execution priming has mainly manipulated congruent versus incongruent action, and aspects of action expertise/capability. More specifically, the literature suggests enhanced performance priming following action observation by actors closely matched to participant expertise. The aim of the prese...

Whereas adults often rely on explicit memory, children appear to excel in implicit memory, which plays an important role in the acquisition of various cognitive skills, such as those involved in language. The current study aimed to test the assertion of an age-dependent shift in implicit versus explicit learning within a theoretical framework that...

Following cerebral injury, motor and cognitive disorders are common, and rehabilitation can prove challenging, for both patients and therapists. In recent years, robotics and serious games have been widely developed in this area in order to increase the functional recovery of patients. Robotics enable an intensification of therapy, assist patients...

Recent brain imaging research demonstrates that the use of internal visual imagery (IVI) or kinesthetic imagery (KIN) activates common and distinct brain areas. In this paper we argue that combining the imagery modalities (IVI & KIN) will lead to a greater cognitive representation (with more brain areas activated), and this will cause a greater sla...

Vertigo patients frequently complain of emotional and associated cognitive problems, yet currently, there is no satisfactory questionnaire to measure these associated problems. In the present paper, we propose a new internet-based Neuropsychological Vertigo Inventory (NVI; French) that evaluates attention, memory, emotion, space perception, time pe...

Objective To validate, establish norms and evaluate the reproducibility of upper limb motor assessment tasks using REAplan in healthy children. REAplan is a rehabilitation robotic device allowing upper limb mobilization in the horizontal plane. Material/Patients and Methods Forty-nine healthy children between six and twelve years participated in t...

This study evaluated whether apraxia can be understood as due to impaired motor representations or motor imagery necessary for appropriate object-use, imitation, and pantomime. The causal role of the left inferior parietal lobe (IPL), which is heavily implicated in apraxia, is also evaluated. These processes are appraised in light of the proposed v...

Preoccupation and compulsive use of the internet can have negative psychological effects, such that it is increasingly being recognized as a mental disorder. The present study employed network-based statistics to explore how whole-brain functional connections at rest is related to the extent of individual’s level of internet addiction, indexed by a...

In three experiments, we investigated Hebb repetition learning (HRL) differences between children and adults, as a function of the type of item (lexical vs. sub-lexical) and the level of item-overlap between sequences. In a first experiment, it was shown that when non-repeating and repeating (Hebb) sequences of words were all permutations of the sa...

This editorial accompanies 18 articles as part of a Frontiers research topic. The aim of this research topic was to clarify the underlying mechanisms involved in mental practice of action, bringing together evidence from a range of disciplines including cognitive neuroscience, experimental neuropsychology, sport and movement science, clinical neuro...

In three experiments, we investigated Hebb repetition learning (HRL) differences between children and adults, as a function of the type of item (lexical vs. sub-lexical) and the level of item-overlap between sequences. In the first experiment, it was shown that when non-repeating and repeating (Hebb) sequences of words were all permutations of the...

The perception of reachability (i.e., whether an object is within reach) relies on body representations and action simulation. Similarly, egocentric distance estimation (i.e., the perception of the distance an object is from the self) is thought to be partly derived from embodied action simulation. Although motor simulation is important for both, i...

Action priming following action observation is thought to be caused by the observed action kinematics being represented in the same brain areas as those used for action execution. But, action priming can also be explained by shared goal representations, with compatibility between observation of the agent's gaze and the intended action of the observ...

In the scientific literature, there is much evidence of a relationship between age and dexterity, where increased age is related to slower, less nimble and less smooth, less coordinated and less controlled performances. While some suggest that the relationship is a direct consequence of reduced muscle strength associated to increased age, there is...

The present functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study investigates the neural correlates of reachability judgements. In a block design experiment, 14 healthy participants judged whether a visual target presented at different distances in a virtual environment display was reachable or not with the right hand. In two control tasks, they judg...

This study assessed the utility of 3-week goal-setting, self-monitoring and step-feedback pedometer interventions for increasing physical activity (PA) in children, and the relative impact of individual and group-standardised goals. Three classes of primary school children (n = 68) were randomised to: (a) individual-standardised goal (IS), (b) grou...

We report three experiments investigating the hypothesis that use of internal visual imagery (IVI) would be superior to external visual imagery (EVI) for the performance of different slalom-based motor tasks. In Experiment 1, three groups of participants (IVI, EVI, and a control group) performed a driving-simulation slalom task. The IVI group achie...

To investigate whether feedback inducing an external focus (EF) of attention (about movement effects) was more effective for retraining reach-to-grasp after stroke compared with feedback inducing an internal focus (IF) of attention (about body movement). It was predicted that inducing an EF of attention would be more beneficial to motor performance...

This study examined dissonance in physical activity (PA) between two youth-specific hip-derived intensity cut-points for the Actiwatch (AW), and compared PA between hip and wrist placements using site-specific cut-points. Twenty-four children aged 11.2 ± 0.5 years wore the AW on the right hip and non-dominant wrist during a typical school day. Minu...

Studies using transcranial magnetic stimulation have demonstrated that action observation can modulate the activity of the corticospinal system. This has been attributed to the activity of an 'action observation network', whereby premotor cortex activity influences corticospinal excitability. Neuroimaging studies have demonstrated that the context...

Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) has been used widely in research investigating corticospinal (CS) excitability during action observation. Generally, this work has shown that observation of an action performed by others, in the absence of overt movement, modulates the excitability of the CS pathway in humans. Despite the extent of the litera...

Previous studies demonstrate that observing the movements of others can interfere with concurrent movement execution. This interference effect is attributed to incongruence between the observed and executed movements. The study presented here examined different aspects of observed and executed movement congruency. Participants attempted to trace st...

Intra- and Inter-Instrument Reliability of the Actiwatch 4 Accelerometer in a Mechanical Laboratory Setting This study aimed to quantify the intra-and inter-instrument reliability of the Actiwatch 4 accelerometer (AW4) in a mechanical setting. Twenty seven AW4 were attached to an isokinetic dynamometer and subjected to angular acceleration for 30 m...

This is the first study to assess sport concussion knowledge and the effect of sport concussion self-report on knowledge in the UK general public. In the online survey, participants (n = 227) stated personal sport concussion history, injury indicators, and rated 26 injury statements for truthfulness using definite (true, false) or non-definite (pro...

Based on literature identifying movement imagery, observation, and execution to elicit similar areas of neural activity, research has demonstrated that movement imagery and observation successfully prime movement execution. To investigate whether movement and observation could prime ease of imaging from an external visual-imagery perspective, an in...

Previous studies have demonstrated that the observation of action can modulate motor performance. This literature has focused on manipulating the observed goal of the action, rather than examining whether action observation effects could be elicited by changing observed kinematics alone. In the study presented here, observed reach trajectory kinema...

In England, the National Child Measurement Programme (NCMP) annually measures the weight and height of Year 6 schoolchildren (age 10-11 years). While measurement protocols are defined, the time of measurement within the school day is not. This study examined the impact of school-day variation in weight and height on NCMP body mass index (BMI)-deter...

Research shows that action observation can prime execution. Evidence for this comes from experiments that show that action observation influenced temporal (e.g., speed) or spatial (e.g., peak grasp aperture or trajectory) aspects of executed movement. In the paper presented here, we for the first time show that observation can also prime executed a...

It has been suggested that representing an action through observation and imagery share neural processes with action execution. In support of this view, motor-priming research has shown that observing an action can influence action initiation. However, there is little motor-priming research showing that imagining an action can modulate action initi...

To determine the influence of the terms concussion, mild traumatic brain injury and minor head injury on expected injury outcome, term-related familiarity and actual symptom reporting. Research design: A questionnaire varied the terms concussion, mild traumatic brain injury and minor head injury. Two hundred and twenty-four university students were...

This chapter reviews the literature evidencing that motor imagery and observation can modulate skill. It considers the neuroscientific processes thought to be involved in physical movement skill acquisition and modulation. It evaluates the case for movement imagery and observation, supporting change within the neuronal system through similar proces...

The current study investigated the Emotion element of the PETTLEP model of motor imagery using penalty kicks in soccer. Two six-week PETTLEP-based imagery interventions were compared to a stretching group (control). Both imagery interventions (skill-based and emotion-based) were facilitative and differed only in their emotional content. Thirty-thre...

There is clear and consistent evidence across many published studies showing that as people get older, their movement speed reduces. In the data presented here, we report two experiments that explored the relationship between participant age and movement speed. In both studies, 66 adult participants were tested that were grouped into younger-, midd...

see paper in European Journal of Neuroscience

The current study re-examined the “estimation inflation” effect previously found with performance estimates of motor skills. After viewing a demonstration of a balancing task, 54 participants performed either physical practice, imagery practice, or no practice (n = 18 per group). Self-efficacy ratings were obtained regarding perceived ability to pe...

Childhood obesity is considered to be the greatest public health risk to children today, placing youth at considerable risk for adult obesity and consequent CVD, diabetes, liver dysfunction, and other morbidities (Nathan & Moran, 2008: Current Opinion in Endocrinology, Diabetes and Obesity, 15(1), 21–29). As a result numerous interventions with the...

Optic ataxic patients have deficits in the visual control of manual reaching and grasping. It has been established previously that these deficits in target-directed behaviour improve following a delay in response. Recently it has been demonstrated that optic ataxic patients also have deficits in taking potential obstacles into account during reachi...

This study investigated a modified conceptualization of imagery direction and its subsequent effects on golf putting performance. A progression in the directional imagery literature was made by eliminating the need for participants to intentionally create persuasively harmful images as they rarely occur, if at all, in the sporting domain. Thus, we...

Previous research has identified that prehension is composed of a reach and a grasp component and that the position and size of the object can independently affect each. However, no effects on prior to contact prehension kinematics have been reported for manipulations in object mass. We felt that this 'lack of a finding' was surprising, as a more a...

Typically, when a grasping response is made, the hand opens wider than the target object. We show that this "over-grasp" response is reduced when we reach to parts of our own face, relative to when we reach to other body parts or to neutral objects. This is not due to reaching to different parts of body space, as over-grasp responses are indifferen...

We report the case of a patient with left parietal damage (MH) who is selectively impaired at both detecting and localising targets defined in terms of their orientation. Performance was relatively good in other tasks where the target was defined either by a single feature (colour) or an orientation conjunction. The results are consistent with the...

The ventral visual stream is proposed to support perception, and the dorsal stream is proposed to control action. A new study of patients with posterior parietal damage shows that the dorsal stream also contributes to automatic obstacle avoidance in reaching.

Previous research has shown that the observation of actions and the execution of actions activate common neural systems. More recently, we have presented data showing that action observation of prehension primes subsequent execution (Castiello, Lusher, Mari, Edwards, & Humphreys, 2002). In the current paper we examined action priming under conditio...

It has been shown that prior exposure to words associated with an elderly stereotype slows down the rate at which participants walk to an elevator upon leaving the laboratory (Bargh, Chen, & Burrows, 1996). Yet neuropsychological evidence suggests that simple motor actions should not be influenced by such a prime. We investigated the effects of an...

We examined the relations between attention and action in a patient with Balint's syndrome following bilateral damage involving the parietal lobes. The first two experiments used prolonged stimulus exposures and showed that unlike normals, the patient GK made independent actions to bilateral stimuli, even when explicitly instructed to make coordina...

Hanley and Kay (1997) reported the case of a patient (PS) who showed effects of imageability on tests of auditory repetition, but whose errors were phonological rather than semantic. They argued that this pattern of performance could be explained in terms of a partial impairment to both lexical and nonlexical repetition routes so long as some inter...

The latest volume in the critically acclaimed and highly influential Attention and Performance series focuses on a subject at the heart of psychological research into human performance the interplay between perception and action. What are the mechanisms that translate the information we receive via our senses into physical actions? How do the mecha...

We provide an experimental analysis of the factors that determine unintentional lower limb action in a patient with cortico-basal degeneration. We show a dissociation between lower limb movements in a novel task and the ability to remember task instructions. In addition, there were effects of the pre-potency of the learned response to the stimulus,...