MENTAL TRAINING EFFECTS ON VOLUNTARY MUSCLE STRENGTH

描述（改编自申请人的摘要）： 随意肌力可以通过肌肉的增大来实现 质量或发生在神经系统的变化。 的神经机制 对强度增加的根本原因知之甚少。 最近的一项研究 已经证明手部肌肉的随意力量可以 通过想象的最大收缩训练来增加。 这一发现 表明神经系统能够增加肌肉的力量 缺乏肌肉锻炼和相关的神经变化的起源 似乎都在大脑中 当前应用程序 他建议通过研究两个具体目标来探索这一现象。 要求1 将决定肌肉收缩训练对 手肘屈肌和小指展肌的力量。 基础 对于目标1，用于手部肌肉的控制方案在几个方面不同， 从近端肌肉开始 目标2将确定潜在的神经 改善肌肉性能的机制， 肌肉收缩训练。 初步结果显示， 即：（1）手肘屈肌的力量可以增加（40%， 平均3名受试者）;（2） 是大脑前额叶皮层的强烈激活， 想象收缩，这种激活在受过训练的受试者中更强; 以及（3）想象收缩时大脑的激活模式 与肌肉收缩时的情况相似。 的假设 这种应用是，收缩训练将导致 小指外展肌和肘屈肌的力量也有类似的增加 肌肉，这种肌肉力量的增加将是由更大的 前额叶皮层的下行指令 三组（一个对照组 和两个训练组）的年轻、健康的人类受试者 为了研究 培训小组将接受40次培训， 最大收缩。 两个肌肉群的随意力量 将在培训之前、期间和之后进行评估。 功能磁 共振成像将用于识别激活的大脑区域 在想象的和实际的最大收缩期间， 训练前后大脑和肌肉活动的幅度。 的 该项目将提供有关人类随意肌机制的信息 加强和理解意志行动如何发生。 的 训练方法可以导致用于维持和/或 恢复无法进行有力肌肉运动的患者的运动功能 宫缩

DESCRIPTION (Adapted from the Applicant's Abstract): The improvement of voluntary muscle strength can be accomplished by an enlargement of muscle mass or by changes that occur in the nervous system. The neural mechanism underlying the increase in strength are poorly understood. A recent study has demonstrated that the voluntary strength of a hand muscle can be increased by training with imagined maximal contractions. This finding indicates that the nervous system is able to increase strength in the absence of muscle exercise and the origin of the neural change associated with strength training appears to be in the brain. The current application proposes to explore this phenomenon by studying two specific aims. Aim 1 will determine the effect of imagined-muscle-contraction training on the strength of the elbow flexor and abductor digiti minimi muscles. The basis for Aim 1 is that the control scheme for a hand muscle differs in several ways from a proximal muscle. Aim 2 will identify the underlying neural mechanisms for the improved muscle performance due to the imagined-muscle-contraction training. Preliminary results demonstrated that: (1) the strength of the elbow flexor muscles can be increased (40%, an average of 3 subjects) by the imagined-contraction training; (2) there was a strong activation in the prefrontal association cortex during the imagined contraction and this activation was stronger in trained subjects; and (3) the activation pattern of the brain during an imagined contraction was similar to that during a forceful muscle contraction. The hypotheses of this application are that the imagined-contraction training will cause a similar increase in strength in the fifth finger abductor and elbow flexor muscles and that this increase in muscle force will be caused by a greater descending command from the prefrontal cortex. Three groups (one control and two training groups) of young, healthy human subjects will be recruited for the study. The training groups will be trained for 40 sessions with the imagined-maximal contractions. Voluntary strength of the two muscle groups will be evaluated before, during, and after training. Functional magnetic resonance imaging will be used to identify the activated brain regions during the imagined and actual maximal contractions and to quantify the magnitude of the brain and muscle activation before and after training. The project will provide information on the mechanisms of human voluntary muscle strengthening and on the understanding of how willed actions occur. The training method may lead to a rehabilitation regimen for maintaining and/or restoring motor functions in patients who cannot perform forceful muscle contractions.