PROJECTS

GENERALIZATION OF TASK- SPECIFIC MOTOR LEARNING

Task-specific training is a current approach for improving motor function within neurorehabilitation, as it has been shown to be more effective than other approaches that simply minimize motor impairment. In a typical task-specific training session, patients may practice multiple repetitions of a given task (i.e. buttoning a shirt) that they have difficulty doing. Most patients have, however, difficulty doing multiple tasks, yet there is not enough time in physical or occupational therapy to practice all of these tasks. Thus, it is assumed that the benefits of practicing one task will generalize or transfer to other unpracticed tasks. We are therefore currently examining this question of whether, in whom, and how much training on one functional motor task will transfer. We have already demonstrated that generalization can occur in some cases (see Publications), but what are its limits?

FUNCTIONAL VS. CHRONOLOGICAL AGE: WHICH MATTERS FOR MOTOR SKILL?

The current view in the motor control literature is that the aging process produces deficits in motor learning. This notion has been based on decades of studies in which motor performance, skill acquisition, and/or motor adaptation in older adults (i.e., those over age 65) are compared to that in younger adults (i.e., college students). Not surprisingly, older adults in these studies tend to learn or adapt a movement at a slower rate than younger adults, and tend to learn less over a given period of time compared to younger adults. These findings have led to the assumption that the older you are, the worse your motor learning will be. We in the MRL Lab challenge this notion by designing our studies differently, and more appropriately as well, by modeling age as a continuous variable, not a categorical one. We are discovering that differences in motor learning are likely more due to age-related cognitive changes, rather than age itself, and are more consistent with the notion of functional not chronological age.

ROLE OF COGNITIVE IMPAIRMENT ON SKILL ACQUISITION

With nearly one out of every two physical therapy patients in the United States being age 65 or older, the likelihood of therapists encountering mild cognitive impairment in their daily practice is high. Should patients with mild cognitive impairment receive the same type, amount, and frequency of therapy as those with normal cognition? Are their rehabilitative outcomes different? These questions still are unanswered, but we in the Motor Rehabilitation and Learning lab are tackling them. We have emerging evidence (see Publications) that different types of cognitive deficits do not seem to impair the learning of a motor skill, but others may. Stay tuned as we continue to study this and more!