Sensorimotor performance is improved by targeted memory reactivation during a daytime nap in healthy older adults

Effects of Passive Haptic Learning in Music-Supported Therapy on Sensorimotor Performance in Older Adult Hands: A Randomized Crossover Trial

10.21203/rs.3.rs-594506/v1 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Hsiu-Yun Hsu ◽

Che-Wei Lin ◽

Yu-Ching Lin ◽

Po-Ting Wu ◽

Hirokazu Kato ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Older Adults ◽

Fine Motor ◽

Single Session ◽

Vibrotactile Stimulation ◽

Clinical Trial Registration ◽

Healthy Older Adults ◽

Beneficial Effects ◽

Significant Difference ◽

Haptic Learning ◽

Sensorimotor Performance

Abstract Background: Music-supported therapy (MST), a type of biofeedback therapy with multi-sensory information input, has been proposed as an effective approach to improving motor control in people with sensorimotor deficits. However, currently, MST training is restricted to being extensively applied for patients with various levels of defects in fine motor skills and cognitive functions. Therefore, the integration of passive haptic learning (PHL) with MST has been adopted as a motor training strategy intended to enhance “motor memory” learning through the use of vibration stimuli. The current study was designed to investigate differences in the sensorimotor performance of older adults’ hands under baseline, a single session of standard MST, and PHL-based MST conditions. Methods: Thirty healthy older adults were recruited and randomized to receive either the single session of 30-minutes of PHL-based MST or 30-minutes of standard MST at the beginning of the experiment. After a one-week washout period, they switched their treatment programs and then were assessed to study the training effects of both approaches through measuring precision pinch performance, hand function, and sensory status. Results: The results of the Pinch-Holding-Up Activity test revealed a statistically significant difference in the FRpeak parameter (F = 14.37, p < 0.001, η² = 0.507) under the PHL-based MST condition compared to the baseline and standard MST conditions. In addition, significant beneficial effects were found on the results of the barognosis (F = 19.126, p < 0.001, η² = 0. 577) and roughness differentiation subtests (F = 15.036, p < 0.001, η² = 0.518) in the Manual Tactile Test for the participants in the PHL-based MST group. In addition, the participants under both the standard MST and PHL-based MST conditions exhibited better performance in the three subtests of the Purdue Pegboard Test as compared to under the baseline condition (p < 0.016). Conclusions: The findings indicated that PHL-based MST potentially improves the precision pinch performance of hands in healthy older adults. In addition, the add-on effect of vibrotactile stimulation to the MST condition provides beneficial effects on the sensory functions of the upper extremities. Clinical Trial Registration: NCT04802564

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Partner-Specific Communication Deficits in Individuals With Alzheimer's Disease

American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology ◽

10.1044/2020_ajslp-19-00094 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 1-15

Author(s):

Eun Jin Paek ◽

Si On Yoon

Keyword(s):

Alzheimer’S Disease ◽

Older Adults ◽

Alzheimer's Disease ◽

Referential Communication ◽

Sorting Task ◽

Audience Design ◽

Healthy Older Adults ◽

Communication Task ◽

Design Skills ◽

Referential Expressions

Purpose Speakers adjust referential expressions to the listeners' knowledge while communicating, a phenomenon called “audience design.” While individuals with Alzheimer's disease (AD) show difficulties in discourse production, it is unclear whether they exhibit preserved partner-specific audience design. The current study examined if individuals with AD demonstrate partner-specific audience design skills. Method Ten adults with mild-to-moderate AD and 12 healthy older adults performed a referential communication task with two experimenters (E1 and E2). At first, E1 and participants completed an image-sorting task, allowing them to establish shared labels. Then, during testing, both experimenters were present in the room, and participants described images to either E1 or E2 (randomly alternating). Analyses focused on the number of words participants used to describe each image and whether they reused shared labels. Results During testing, participants in both groups produced shorter descriptions when describing familiar images versus new images, demonstrating their ability to learn novel knowledge. When they described familiar images, healthy older adults modified their expressions depending on the current partner's knowledge, producing shorter expressions and more established labels for the knowledgeable partner (E1) versus the naïve partner (E2), but individuals with AD were less likely to do so. Conclusions The current study revealed that both individuals with AD and the control participants were able to acquire novel knowledge, but individuals with AD tended not to flexibly adjust expressions depending on the partner's knowledge state. Conversational inefficiency and difficulties observed in AD may, in part, stem from disrupted audience design skills.

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Talk or Walk? Gait Speed over Self-Report in Association with Cognitive Speed in Healthy Older Adults

GeroPsych ◽

10.1024/1662-9647/a000202 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 32 (1) ◽

pp. 41-52

Author(s):

Matthew C. Costello ◽

Shane J. Sizemore ◽

Kimberly E. O’Brien ◽

Lydia K. Manning

Keyword(s):

Older Adults ◽

Older Adult ◽

Gait Speed ◽

Well Being ◽

Self Report ◽

Subjective Report ◽

Healthy Older Adults ◽

Relative Value ◽

Cognitive Speed ◽

Age Range

Abstract. This study explores the relative value of both subjectively reported cognitive speed and gait speed in association with objectively derived cognitive speed. It also explores how these factors are affected by psychological and physical well-being. A group of 90 cognitively healthy older adults ( M = 73.38, SD = 8.06 years, range = 60–89 years) were tested in a three-task cognitive battery to determine objective cognitive speed as well as measures of gait speed, well-being, and subjective cognitive speed. Analyses indicated that gait speed was associated with objective cognitive speed to a greater degree than was subjective report, the latter being more closely related to well-being than to objective cognitive speed. These results were largely invariant across the 30-year age range of our older adult sample.

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