Stroke patients and metronome training

I just ran across an article (actually based on an email tip via the mental timing grapevine) for a 2002 article by Thaut et al. in Neuropsychologia that supports the use of synchronized metronome tapping (SMT) methods to improve motor coordination in patients with strokes.

In the article, the authors goal was to "investigate the effect of rhythm on the control of paretic arm movements in stroke patients." The basis for this intervention was prior research that had suggested that:

• "a rhythmic model of rehabilitative motor training, has shown significant improvements in gait function of stroke patients. In this model, rhythm functions as a sensory cue to induce temporal stability and enhance the temporal organization of motor control in the nervous system by translating the temporal structure of movement patterns into temporally isomorphic auditory rhythmic patterns to entrain the movement in question. Similar models have been successfully used in high-performance motor skill learning in sports and music."

In a sample of 21 hemispheric stroke patients, the researchers found that:

• "the observed changes in timing and trajectory control strongly suggest that the structured time information in auditory rhythm added significant kinematic stability to the patient’s paretic arm reaching motions. These changes were not present during the non-rhythmic condition...Our data suggest, therefore, that auditory rhythm may offer an essential component of enhanced sensorimotor control to make hemiparetic arm training more effective."

The results of this study provide indirect support for the use of the Interactive Metronome SMT-based program in stroke patients with motor control impairment. (click here for other IM-related prior posts on this blog). Of course, all of this makes sense in the context of the extant research literature on temporal processing and the IQ Brain Clock (click here to enter the wonderful world of the IQ Brain Clock EWOK)

Click here for IM-related conflict of interest statement.

Technorati Tags: psychology, educational psychology, rehabilitation, strokes, motor function, metronome, Interactive Metronome, rhythmicity, neuroscience, neuropsychology, stroke rehab, speech and language

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"Time Doc "presents on "IQ Brain Clock" in Chicago

Warning. This is self-serving plug :)

I, the IQ Brain Clock blogmaster, just agreed to provide the keynote presentation at the Interactive Metronome Professional 2007 Conference in Chicago (Sept 28-30; click here for registration link).The title of the presentation is:


The Brain Clock: An Overview of Contemporary Research & Theory Regarding the Neuroscience of Brain-based Interval Timing and Its Relevance to Learning and Rehabilitation. (click here for overview of complete program flyer)

[click here for conflict of interest disclosure]

Technorati Tags: psychology, educational psychology, neuroscience, neuropsychology, school psychology, brain clock, mental timing, interval timing, learning, temporal processing, time perception, brain

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Research bytes - Wearden mental timing scholar pubs again, and again, and...

John Weardon, one of the listed "mental timing scholars" at the IQ Brain Clock (see right hand column of blog), together with some of his colleagues, has been busy pumping out more theoretical mental timing research. Be forewarned, these are not-so-easy to read research articles. Check out the following recent "in press" pubs. Emphasis and/or any links below provided by blogmaster.

• "In press" Journal of Experimental Child Psychology article that concludes that "judgments of the similarity of two successive durations separated by a retention interval, the retention of the first duration in short-term memory reduces temporal accuracy."
• "In press" Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology (QJEP) that supports the major characteristics/assumptions of Scalar Expectancy Timing Theory (SET), which is the primary theoretical foundation of the pacemaker-accumulator model of mental timing.
• Another "in press" article in QJEP that demonstrates that it is possible to experimentally "slow down" the internal brain clock. Why would one want to slow down the clock, when speeding up the mental brain clock is associated with better cognitive functioning? According to the authors, demonstrating that it is possible to slow down the internal clock can help with our understanding how people maintain time via their internal clock. That is...it can help us better understand the phenomena of mental timing.

Technorati Tags: psychology, educational psychology, neuropsychology, neuroscience, mental timing, time perception, scalar theory, pacemaker accumulator, brain clock, temporal processing, temporal awareness, brain clock

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Brain drugs - free on-line text book

Kudos to Mind Hacks for locating the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology free on-line text book on Neuropsychopharmacology.


Technorati Tags: psychology, neuroscience, neuropsychology, neuropsychopharmacology, brain, drugs, book, medications

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Best of the brain

Thanks to Mind Hacks for the FYI tip regarding the recent publication - Best of the Brain from Scientific American


Technorati Tags: psychology, neuroscience, neuropsychology, educaitonal psychology, school psychology, Scientific American, brain

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Random tidbits from mind blogosphere 7-3-07

• Thanks to the Brain Injury blog for the tip re: the availability (on-line) of the Defense and Veterans Brain Injury Center video - Understanding Traumatic Brain Injury
  

• The 12th Edition of the Brain Blogging brain carnival is now available for review. Speaking of brain carnivals, the 26th issue of Encephalon is also now ready for viewing
• Interesting post over on Positive Technology Journal on journal article dealing with virtual reality as a leisure activity for individuals with disabilities.

Technorati Tags: psychology, educational psychology, neuroscience, neuropsychology, intelligence, cognition, brain injury, TBI, virutal reality, brain carnivals

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