The brain clock (mental timing) and clinical disorders

The human brain clock is intimately involved in wide array of human cognitive and motor behaviors.  At this blog a number of clincal disorders have been associated with some degree of disturbance or damage to brain mechanisms related to mental timing.  This informaiton is scattered across a variety of posts.  I decided to pull it all together (as of today's date) in this post.

Mental timing (brain clock) has been implicated via research reported at this blog in:

ADHD and attention

Autismhttp://www.brainclock.net/search/label/autism

Various speech and language disorders

• Aphasia
• Apraxia
• Speech and language

Tourette's syndrome

Cerbral palsy

Central auditory processing disorders (CAPD)

Reading disabilities/dyslexia (click here, here and here)

Various dopaminegeric-based disorders

• Huntington's 
• Schizophrenia
• Parkinson's

Gate disorders

Stroke related dysfunction

A more detailed reference list of timing-related dysfunctions/disorder (e.g., aging related disorders--Alzheimer's, dementia; ADHD, motor coordination/timing disorders--gait, stroke,swallowing;  speech and language disorders--aphasia/stroke/apraxia/speech; TBI) can be found in special white paper regarding the efficacy of various rhythm-based interventions.

Reading with the Time Doc: New feature - first focus on gait intervention with Parkinson's article

I have become a huge fan of my new iPad. With the aid of the GoodReader app, I can read journal articles in PDF form. In the past, I have typically cut-and-pasted text from PDF files into a file, added my comments, then pasted into a blog editor to post as a new post.

Today I am trying something new as I read the article "At-home training with closed-loop augmented-reality cueing device for improving gait in patients with Parkinson disease" (Journal of Rehabilitation Research & Development' Volume 47, Number 6, 2010 Pages 573–582) by Epsay et al..

Rather than doing the above multiple-step process, this time I annotated my thoughts (only once near the end) as I read the article directly in the PDF file. I have highlighted text that I found interesting and important. More exciting, IMHO, is that I can insert comment icons when I want to "add value" via my thoughts and commentary. Most PDF readers should allow readers to click or hover over these icons and see what I have written. I then upload the annotated PDF file to my server directly from an FTP file transfer program embedded within the GoodReader program. It is amazing.

I then exit GoodReader and open up my Blog Press iPad app, which I am writing within at this moment. I write all the above text, can insert some formatting, and can now provide a URL link to the article I annotated (click here).

Bingo...instant blog commentary from IQ's Corner embedded in the reading, rather than in a lengthy message post. Much more efficient for me.

I'm very interested in what readers think of this new feature. I like it as it makes it much easier for me to read something and instantly share my thoughts, critique, etc. I need to know if readers can see my comments in the comment icons.

I can also go to a free web page that generates technorati tags and enter keywords and it generates the HTML code which I then copy and paste below. Bingo.

Parkinsons gait walking giat interventions Neurotechnology virtual reality IQ Brain Clock




I love technology. I am now hooked on my iPad.


- iPost using BlogPress from my Kevin McGrew's iPad



- iPost using BlogPress from my Kevin McGrew's iPad

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

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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