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Lookup NU author(s): Dr Ao WangORCiD, Dr Ian Schofield, Matt Birkbeck, Dan Baxter-Beard, Professor Andrew BlamireORCiD, Professor Roger Whittaker
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).
© 2026 The Author(s). NMR in Biomedicine published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd. Rhythmic motor paradigms are widely used to study sensorimotor timing, yet magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) research has largely focused on central processes, with limited insight into peripheral neuromuscular mechanisms. Motor unit MRI (MUMRI), a motion-sensitive technique in which muscle contraction induces intravoxel water redistribution and transient signal attenuation, enables in vivo visualization of muscle activity. In this study, we developed and validated a combined behavioral–MUMRI paradigm to characterize muscle recruitment during rhythmic foot tapping. Healthy participants performed an auditory-paced tapping task inside an MRI scanner while timing was recorded via an MRI-compatible force transducer and muscle activity was measured using single-slice MUMRI. A variable-latency cueing design systematically sampled the temporal relationship between auditory cues, motor execution, and image acquisition, allowing identification of the optimal latency window for detecting contraction-related signal changes. Fixed-latency acquisitions were then used to assess reproducibility. Behavioral results showed stable performance across conditions, with low variability in tapping accuracy (mean coefficient of variation [CoV] ≈0.078). Transient, localized signal reductions consistent with muscle contraction were observed in anterior lower leg muscles during dorsiflexion. Voxel-wise analyses demonstrated high within-condition reproducibility and latency-dependent spatial patterns, with the greatest average consistency when tapping aligned with scanner rhythm (r ≈0.68). These findings establish a robust framework for integrating rhythmic motor tasks with MUMRI, highlighting the importance of precise temporal alignment for reliable measurement of muscle activity. This approach provides a reproducible method for linking motor behavior to peripheral neuromuscular dynamics and offers potential for advancing both basic and clinical MRI research.
Author(s): Wang A, Schofield I, Birkbeck MG, Baxter-Beard D, Blamire AM, Whittaker RG
Publication type: Article
Publication status: Published
Journal: NMR in Biomedicine
Year: 2026
Volume: 39
Issue: 8
Print publication date: 01/08/2026
Online publication date: 05/07/2026
Acceptance date: 10/06/2026
Date deposited: 15/07/2026
ISSN (print): 0952-3480
ISSN (electronic): 1099-1492
Publisher: John Wiley and Sons Ltd
URL: https://doi.org/10.1002/nbm.70347
DOI: 10.1002/nbm.70347
Data Access Statement: The data that support the findings of this study are available on request from the corresponding author. The data are not publicly available due to privacy or ethical restrictions.
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