Oscillatory Corticospinal Activity during Static Contraction of Ankle Muscles Is Reduced in Healthy Old versus Young Adults

Figure 1

Experimental setup and static contractions. Subjects sat in a chair with their left foot fastened to a force pedal and maintained a force level of 10% of their maximal voluntary contraction (MVC) for 2 min, first for dorsiflexion (DF) and subsequently for plantar flexion (PF). The target force level was projected onto the wall as a horizontal line that subjects were asked to follow as precisely as possible with a yellow force trace showing online force production. During contractions, electroencephalographic (EEG) and electromyographic (EMG) signals from the proximal and distal ends of the anterior tibial muscle (TA_prox and TA_dist), soleus (SOL), and medial gastrocnemius (GM) were recorded.