Children with cerebral palsy display altered neural oscillations within the visual MT/V5 cortices

Abstract

Cortical visual processing in visual MT/V5 is necessary for tracking movement and performing reliable visuomotor transformations. Although the role of this cortical area is well recognized, the activity of the visual MT/V5 cortical area in children with cerebral palsy (CP) has not been examined nor has its potential role in the atypical motor actions of these children been considered. This study used magnetoencephalography to image the neural activity in the motion-sensitive MT/V5 cortices of typically developing (TD) children ( n = 21; mean age 14 yrs. ± 2, 12 males) and children with CP (n = 21; mean age 16 yrs. ± 4, 13 males) as they viewed a horizontally moving stimulus. Behavioral measures of visual perception were additionally assessed by having the participants press a button when the visual stimulus changed to moving in vertical direction. Our results showed that the horizontal movement of the visual stimulus evoked changes in the strength of the theta-alpha (5–10 Hz) and alpha-beta (8–20 Hz) oscillations in the visual MT/V5 area of all participants. Compared with the TD children, the children with CP had weaker alpha-beta oscillations in the visual MT/V5 cortices. In addition, the children with CP took longer to perceive a directional change of the visual stimulus and made more errors in detecting the change. Lastly, weaker alpha-beta oscillations were correlated with slower detection of the change in motion direction and less accuracy in identifying the change. This study shows that the uncharacteristic neural oscillations in the visual MT/V5 cortical area may partially account for the abnormal perceptions and motor decisions seen in children with CP.

Motor beta cortical oscillations are related with the gait kinematics of youth with cerebral palsy

“…These results were somewhat unexpected, as visual processing impairments in youth with CP are becoming more prominent in the clinical literature 46‐48 . Furthermore, our prior MEG experimental results have shown that the cortical oscillations seen in the visual middle temporal (MT) and occipital cortical areas are often abnormal in youth with CP 26,49 . It is possible that the participants in this investigation had more selective brain injuries that spared the occipital cortices, or that our specific task did not strongly burden these regions.…”

“…[46][47][48] Furthermore, our prior MEG experimental results have shown that the cortical oscillations seen in the visual middle temporal (MT) and occipital cortical areas are often abnormal in youth with CP. 26,49 It is possible that the participants in this investigation had more selective brain injuries that spared the occipital cortices, or that our specific task did not strongly burden these regions. Nevertheless, we cannot rule out the possibility that some of the participants did have visual impairments, as no ophthalmological assessments were performed in this study.…”

Functional Segregation of the Middle Temporal Visual Motion Area Revealed With Coactivation-Based Parcellation

“…It has also been confirmed by several EEG and magnetoencephalographic (MEG) studies (Kawakami et al, 2002;Maruyama et al, 2002;Heinrich, 2007), which showed strong correlations between the latency and amplitude of the evoked response in the visual MT cortical area and the speed of the moving visual stimuli in the adults. Recently, a MEG study showed that the horizontal movement of the visual stimulus evoked changes in the strength of the theta-alpha (5-10 Hz) and alpha-beta (8-20 Hz) oscillations in the visual MT area of all participants (VerMaas et al, 2019).…”

Weaker Connectivity of the Cortical Networks Is Linked with the Uncharacteristic Gait in Youth with Cerebral Palsy

“…Another notable result of the study was the fact that the visual cortex was consistently found to be abnormally connected to the other two primary cortices (namely, the motor and auditory cortices). Both functional and structural studies have reported abnormalities related to the visual network [6][7][8]26,29] and visual tracks [30,45] in CP. Our finding supports the idea that the disconnectivity of the visual network from the other primary networks might reflect a pathophysiological mechanism leading to visual perception impairment in CP.…”

“…The breadth of the muscular performance and sensory acuity deficiencies in youth with CP have largely fueled the impression that the altered spatiotemporal gait biomechanics primarily originate from aberrations in sensorimotor cortical activity [2][3][4][5]. Despite this impression, a growing body of literature has highlighted that youth with CP also have altered activity in the primary occipital cortices and visual MT areas while processing visual stimuli [6][7][8]. These studies imply that the perinatal insult likely impacts several key brain networks that expend beyond the sensorimotor cortices.…”