Research byte: Keeping an eye on the violinist

Keeping an eye on the violinist: motor experts show superior timing consistency in a visual perception task. Psychological Research. An International Journal of Perception, Attention, Memory, and Action. Clemens and Rouwen Cañal-Bruland2. 10.1007/s00426-010-0280-9




Abstract

Common coding theory states that perception and action may reciprocally induce each other. Consequently, motor expertise should map onto perceptual consistency in specific tasks such as predicting the exact timing of a musical entry. To test this hypothesis, ten string musicians (motor experts), ten non-string musicians (visual experts), and ten non-musicians were asked to watch progressively occluded video recordings of a first violinist indicating entries to fellow members of a string quartet. Participants synchronised with the perceived timing of the musical entries. Results revealed significant effects of motor expertise on perception. Compared to visual experts and non-musicians, string players not only responded more accurately, but also with less timing variability. These findings provide evidence that motor experts’ consistency in movement execution—a key characteristic of expert motor performance—is mirrored in lower variability in perceptual judgements, indicating close links between action competence and perception.



- iPost using BlogPress from my Kevin McGrew's iPad

iPost: Mental timing, aging and movement

Aging, time scales, and sensorimotor variability. Tue, Dec 22 2009 2:17 AM  by Newell, Karl M.; Mayer-Kress, Gottfried; Liu, Yeou-Teh It is well established that there is an increased amount of intraindividual variability with aging in a variety of behavioral contexts. Here, we elaborate from a self-organization and dynamic systems framework to investigate the relevant time scales of variability as a function of aging and their relation to the changes in the amount and structure (frequency and time domains) of movement and postural variability. In particular, we examine evidence for the general hypotheses that (a) there is a reduction or even loss of shorter time scales in the control of movement with aging and (b) the shorter the time scale in motor output variability, the more sensitive the measure is as a biomarker to revealing the onset and early influence of aging and disease. The dynamic analysis of the time scales of variability distinguishes the distinctive roles of stability and noise in the increased amount of intraindividual variability with aging. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2009 APA, all rights reserved)

Sent from KMcGrew iPhone (IQMobile). (If message includes an image-double click on it to make larger-if hard to see) 

Brain shock imroves hand dexterity?

Interesting research post from the BRAIN BLOGGER.

http://brainblogger.com/2008/11/14/electrical-brain-stimulation-improves-hand-motor-skills/

Sent from KMcGrew iPhone (IQMobile)

IM Gait Mate brain clock based technology

Previous research reported at this blog has established a link between rhythm training (a topic under temporal processing) and improving gait in subjects with cerebral palsy. I've now learned that Interactive Metronome (IM) has a new product in this field (the Gait Mate - click here for more info), based on IM's mental timing synchronization technology. Check out link above for more information.


[Conflict of Interest disclosure - I'm on the Scientific Advisory Board for IM]

Technorati Tags: Gait Mate, Interactive Metronome, IQ Brain Clock, temporal processing, rhythm perception, mental time keeping, brain clock

Developmental coordination disorders: Special journal issue

Given the critical importance of the brain clock in motor coordination and functioning, readers of the IQ Brain Clock blog might want to check out a post at my sister blog (IQs Corner) that features a special issue of Human Movement Science dealing with developmental coordination disorder.

Technorati Tags: psychology, educational psychology, school psychology, neuropsychology, neuroscience, coordination, developmental coordination, motor abilities, OT, PT, CHC, Cattell-Horn-Carroll, Gps, Gp, handwriting, motor rehabilitation

Cerebullum control of mental activities: New model

[double click on image to enlarge]

Thanks to Neurodudes for the post regarding a new/revised theory of how the cerebellum, which we know is intimately involved in timing of motor movements, may be involved in the control of cognition. I love the nice model figure (see above). I'm particularly pleased to see the role of executive functions, working memory, and central attention....neuro-cognitive mechanisms I've blogged about repeatedly as being significantly involved in the IQ Brain Clock, temporal processing (temporal g), and mental time-keeping.

According to Neurodudess, "the great Masao Ito, originator of one of the classic theories of cerebellar function, has published a new theory in the recent issue of Nature Neuroscience regarding how the cerebellum may be involved in control of cognition."

Check out the complete post at Neurodudes. If you feel up to reading the original article, click here.

The important brain clock strikes again: RAS training and Parkinsons

I recently made a post about the impact or RAS (Rhtymic Auditory Stimulaltion) on improved gait (check out this link for a great animation of walking gait) performance in patients with CP. Someone just sent me a link to a boat-load of similar article abstracts, most dealing with the positive benefits of RAS with individuals with Parkinson's disease. The references and abstracts can be found by clicking here.

As I've blogged before, there is a considerable body of evidence linking temporal processing (mediated by the internal brain clock) and Parkinson's disease. RAS is clearly dealing with underlying temporal processing/brain clock mechanisms.

Technorati Tags: psychology, educational psychology, rehabilitation, neuropsychology, neuroscience, RAS, rhythmicity, rhythm, gait, Parkinsons, brain clock, mental time keeping, temporal processing

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Rhythm training may improve gait in cerebral palsy

Another article suggesting a link between interventions that improve mental timing (the brain clock) and rhythmicity (check out "rhythm perception and production" branch at IQ Brain Clock temporal processing EWOK) and important human outcomes---this time, improved gait performance in children with spastic CP. Although different, the essence of the RAS (Rhythmic Auditory Stimulation) training seems to overlap with the essence of syncrhonized metronome tapping (which I have written about, primary in the context of the Interactive Metronome product).

Kwak, E. (2007). Effect of Rhythmic Auditory Stimulation on Gait Performance in Children with Spastic Cerebral Palsy. Journal of Music Therapy, XLIV (3), 2007,198-216.

Abstract

• The purpose of this study was to use Rhythmic Auditory Stimulation (RAS) for children with spastic cerebral palsy (CP) in a clinical setting in order to determine its effectiveness in gait training for ambulation. RAS has been shown to improve gait performance in patients with significant gait deficits. All 25 participants (6 to 20 years old) had spastic CP and were ambulatory, but needed to stabilize and gain more coordinated movement. Participants were placed in three groups: the control group, the therapist-guided training (TGT) group, and the self-guided training (SGT) group. The TGT group showed a statistically significant difference in stride length, velocity, and symmetry. The analysis of the results in SGT group suggests that the self-guided training might not be as effective as therapist-guided depending on motivation level. The results of this study support three conclusions: (a) RAS does influence gait performance of people with CP; (b) individual characteristics, such as cognitive functioning, support of parents, and physical ability play an important role in designing a training application, the effectiveness of RAS, and expected benefits from the training; and (c) velocity and stride length can be improved by enhancing balance, trajectory, and kinematic stability without increasing cadence.

Technorati Tags: psychology, educational psychology, neuropsychology, neuroscience, neurotechnology, Interactive Metronome, brain clock, mental timing, rhtyhmicity, auditory, Ga, cerebral palsy

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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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Motor timing training - starting early

The cerebellum and Tinker Toys

Check out the ENL blog for an interesting study showing brain activation areas when observing or performing construction with Tinker Toys. Not surprisingly, the cerebellum was hot and active during this activity, an activity with significant motor learning.

Technorati Tags: psychology, educational psychology, school psychology, neuropsychology, neuroscience, Tinker Toys, cerebellum, intelligence, congition, motor learning


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Random tidbits from the mind blogsphere - 2-23-07

• Thanks to Boing Boing for the "small world in your head" neuroscience related post

• Brain Injury has an interesting post about a partnership between the Brain Injury Association and Bob Woodruff (notable reporter who sustained brain injury in Iraq)
• Very interesting visual-graphic of the "whimsical image of the blogosphere from the edge to the core" over at the Data Mining blog.
• The always rich Developing Intelligence blog continues its series of excellent posts re: the development of prospective memory (remembering to remember)
• Thought provoking post (based on recent research article, as per usual) over at the Eide Neurolearning blog on the positive impact on cognitive due to heavily visual-based (Gv) video games...with the question asked--"what about auditory" (Ga)
• More on the whole brain fitness revolution...this time Consumer Reports making suggestions. Thanks to Happy Neuron for the tip
• Thanks to Mind Hacks for the tip re: some cutting edge Parkinson's disease research. This should be of interest to regular readers of the IQ Brain Clock blog, as Parkinson's has been linked to the brain structures closely linked to mental/interval time-keeping.
• Positive Technology Journal has an interesting neurotechnology post re: a recent study (n=5 clinical cases) of the use of some virtual reality neurotechnology in stroke rehab.

Technorati Tags: psychology, education, educational psychology, neuropsychology, school psychology, neuroscience, neurotechnology, brain fitness, stroke rehabilitation, virtual reality, brain injury, memory, video games, Ga, Gv

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Mental timing and rhythm perception bibliography posted

As promised, I just posted the "working" mental/interval timing and rhythm perception reference list (click here) I've been pulling together the past week or so. It currently includes 340+ references. I've NOT read all of them, so I can't vouch that every reference is relevant to the focus of this blog. I hope to read some of the more important/seminal pieces as make blog posts as time permits.

If anyone finds this resource of value, let me know via a comment. Also, if you are aware of important references that are missing, drop me a comment or email note (iap@earthlink.net).

Technorati Tags: psychology, educational psychology, school psychology, neuropsychology, neuroscience, mental timing, interval timing, brain clock, temporal processing, time perception, rhythm perception, rhythm, IQ Brain Clock, intelligence, cognition, Ga

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More on UCLA mental time keeping theory

More press coverage (Scientific American.com) (see post the other day) highlighting the new UCLA research suggesting an alternative to the traditional pacemaker-accumulator model of mental or interval time-keeping in the brain.

According to Warren Meck, one of the prominent mental time researchers previously featured at this blog:

• "This paper has important implications for our every day perception of the temporal relationships among all of the sights and sounds that we process." He adds that the study complements his research focusing on internal clock mechanisms—which he has localized to the basal ganglia at the brain's center—at durations of seconds to hours involving cognitive and memory processes.

Technorati Tags: psychology, educational psychology, neuroscience, neuropsychology, time, time perception, mental time keeping, brain, brain clock, interval timing, UCLA

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Cerebellum and dyslexia controversy

As noted in a prior post, there has been a recent firestorm surrounding the controversial Dore Achievement Centers cerebellum-based treatment approach to severe reading disabilities (dyslexia). The Myomancy blog has been particularly prominent in covering the controversy and issues surrounding the cerebellum-based Dore Achievement Centers treatment. Given the role of the cerebellum in certain forms of mental/interval time-keeping, I find this controversy and surrounding research of interest.

The mental/interval time-keeping research has implicated the cerebellum in behaviors that operate at the millisecond range of time keeping, but not at the interval levels. I think this point may be relevant to the whole Dore controversy. As summarized previously, more complex cognitive behaviors (e.g., reading) most likely involve both the millisecond and interval level time-keeping systems. The interval level system appears to be important for such cognitive abilities as working memory and executive function, higher-level cognitive functions important for intelligence and achievement.

Thus, if a treatment for dyslexia is based ONLY on the millisecond system (primarily the cerebellum), it is not surprising that there is controversy. Such a brain-based treatment may only be focusing on one brain-related component for reading....while ignoring others (cognitive abilities and functions more dependent on the interval timing system).

This hypothesis is supported by a recent meta-analysis re: the role of impaired balance (due to the cerebellum) and developmental dyslexia. The reference and abstract (and URL link) are provided below. Bottom line--according to this meta-analysis and the mental/interval time-keeping research presented previously at this blog---a treatment focused only on the functions/abilities mediated by the cerebellum is likely only touching on a small portion of the complex set of abilities involved in reading. Brain-based treatments for reading (and other academics) most likely need to also include activities that address cognitive abilities mediated by cognitively controlled interval time-keeping brain mechanisms. I believe the article speaks for itself (although I have added emphasis via italics).

• Rochell, K. & Talcott, J. (2006). Impaired balance in developmental dyslexia? A meta-analysis of the contending evidence. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 47(11), 1159–1166 (click here to view)

Abstract

• Background: Developmental dyslexia is typically defined by deficits in phonological skills, but it is also associated with anomalous performance on measures of balance. Although balance assessments are included in several screening batteries for dyslexia, the association between impairments in literacy and deficits in postural stability could be due to the high co-occurrence of dyslexia with other developmental disorders in which impairments of motor behaviour are also prevalent. Methods: We identified 17 published studies that compared balance function between dyslexia and control samples and obtained effect-sizes for each. Contrast and association analyses were used to quantify the influence of hypothesised moderator variables on differences in effects across studies. Results: The mean effect-size of the balance deficit in dyslexia was .64 (95% CI ¼ .44–.78) with heterogeneous findings across the population of studies. Probable co-occurrence of other developmental disorders and variability in intelligence scores in the dyslexia samples were the strongest moderator variables of effect-size. Conclusions: Balance deficits are associated with dyslexia, but these effects are apparently more strongly related to third variables other than to reading ability. Deficits of balance may indicate increased risk of developmental disorder, but are unlikely to be uniquely associated with dyslexia. Keywords: Meta-analysis, dyslexia, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, balance, postural stability. Abbreviations: ADHD: attention deficit, hyperactivity disorder; DCD: developmental coordination disorder; FSIQ: full-scale intelligence quotient.

Technorati Tags: psychology, educational psychology, school psychology, neuropsychology, neuroscience, reading, dyslexia, Grw, cerebellum, brain fitness, Dore, Dore Achievement Centers, intelligence, cognition, mental time keeping, interval timing, temporal tracking, time perception, balance

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Visuomotor 3d virtual learning and Parkinsons

Interesting research article summary over at Positive Technology Journal on "Visuomotor learning in immersive 3D virtual reality in Parkinson's disease and aging."

Technorati Tags: psychology, neuropsychology, neuroscience, neurotechnology, motor learning, visual-motor, virtual reality, Parkinson's

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Motor imagery and neurotechnologies

The Positive Technology Journal has two posts re: articles reporting on new uses of neurotechnology. One is "Motor imagery and EEG-based control of spellling devices and neuroprotheses." The second is "Motor imagery practice in gait rehabilitation of chronic post-stroke hemiparesis." Check out this valuable blog site.

Technorati Tags: psychology, neuroscience, neuropsychology, neurotechnology, motor, motor imagery, spelling, neuroprotheses, brain, strokes, stroke rehabilitation, rehabilitation, hemiparesis, spelling

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Mental timing interventions for sports

I just added a new feature to the IQ Brain Clock. On the right side of this blog is a new section called "Timing Interventions." In this section I'm going to provide links to any intervention programs I locate that implicitly or explicitly seem to be dealing with the brain's master internal clock (interval or mental time-keeping).

To date I am only aware of two such programs. One, which I've mentioned before is Interactive Metronome (please click here for a conflict of interest disclosure). The second, which is advertised as a separate product, is actually the IM program adapted for sports. In particular, IM has produced a product called the Groove, which is marketed as a method for improving golf performance. You can check out the claims and watch some videos at the Groove web page.

Also....while poking around the Groove web site I found a video (the ESPN Game Day icon/link on their page) that shows that the IM program was used to improve college football player performance at Notre Dame. Be aware, these are largely testimonials. When and if I can locate any actual empirical studies to support these claims, I'll make the appropriate post.

If any reader can direct me to empirical reports that support the sports performance enhancement via SMT (synchronoized metronome tapping), please drop me a note via the "comment" feature.

Technorati Tags: psychology, sports psychology, football, Notre Dame, SMT, synchronized metronome tapping, metronome, Interactive Metronome, The Groove, Groove, golf, mental time keeping, interval timing, brain clock, rhythm, motor sequencing brain fitnessneurotechnology

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FYI - growth factor for motor neurons

An interesting story over at Science Daily re: a positive report of a growth factor that may stimulate the rapid extension of key motor neurons in the brain.

Technorati Tags: psychology, educational psychology, neuropsychology, neuroscience, neurology, brain, neurons, growth factor, Science Dailey, IQ Brain Clock, neuroplasticity

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