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Full-Text Articles in Kinesiology
Using A Multi-Direction Reaching Approach To Investigate Fitts’ Law And The Effect Of Attentional Focus On Motor Learning, Charles R. Smith
Using A Multi-Direction Reaching Approach To Investigate Fitts’ Law And The Effect Of Attentional Focus On Motor Learning, Charles R. Smith
Theses and Dissertations
The Index of Difficulty value (ID) derived from Fitts’ Law’s speed-accuracy trade-off is commonly used to determine the difficulty of a targeted reaching movement and balance difficulty in sequence learning tasks. However, this value does not account for the mechanical difficulty of multi-directional movements which could affect both performance and learning. Where we direct our focus when completing a task/skill can also have an effect on how we perform and learn that task, however, the manner in which differing focus instructions affect learning a whole-arm reaching task is relatively unknown. The purpose of this dissertation was to examine 1) how …
Linking Spinal Cord Circuits With Upper Limb Sensorimotor Control In Adults With Cerebral Palsy, Saihari Dukkipati
Linking Spinal Cord Circuits With Upper Limb Sensorimotor Control In Adults With Cerebral Palsy, Saihari Dukkipati
Theses & Dissertations
Cerebral palsy (CP) is the most common neurological disorder originating in childhood, but most of the people living with CP are currently adults. While people with CP continue to get older, the amount of research focused on adults has been rather limited. The early childhood insults leading to CP are thought to originate in the brain, but the effects on the entire neuromuscular system across the lifespan have only recently started to be explored. Of note, recent neuroimaging evidence suggests that the cervical spinal cord structure is atypical in adults with CP. However, it is largely unclear how the neurophysiological …
Age-Related Changes In Corticospinal Drive During Locomotor Adaptation, Sumire D. Sato
Age-Related Changes In Corticospinal Drive During Locomotor Adaptation, Sumire D. Sato
Doctoral Dissertations
During activities of daily living, locomotor patterns must be continuously adapted according to changes in our body (e.g., bodily injuries, fatigue) and to the changing environment (e.g., walking surface). Plasticity of spinal networks and supraspinal centers, including the cerebellum and cerebral cortex, have been shown to play important roles in human locomotor adaptation. However, the neural control of locomotion and the ability to adapt locomotor patterns are altered in older adults, which may limit activities of daily living and increase fall-related injuries in the elderly population. My dissertation project is focused on understanding the role of corticospinal drive during split-belt …