scholarly journals Efficacy of the use of unaffected hand containment in unimanual intensive therapy to increase visuomotor coordination in children with hemiplegia: a randomized controlled pilot study

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
pp. 204062232110012
Author(s):  
Rocío Palomo-Carrión ◽  
Elisabeth Bravo-Esteban ◽  
Sara Ando-La Fuente ◽  
Purificación López-Muñoz ◽  
Inés Martínez-Galán ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Reaction Time ◽  
Upper Limb ◽  
Visual Information ◽  
Intensive Therapy ◽  
Action Planning ◽  
Reaction Time Task ◽  
Group Differences ◽  
Visuomotor Coordination ◽  
Therapy Program ◽  
Anticipatory Action

Background: The capacity of children with hemiplegia to be engaged in anticipatory action planning is affected. There is no balance among spatial, proprioceptive and visual information, thus altering the affected upper limb visuomotor coordination. The objective of the present study was to assess the improvement in visuomotor coordination after the application of a unimanual intensive therapy program, with the use of unaffected hand containment compared with not using unaffected hand containment. Methods: A simple blind randomized clinical trial was realized. A total of 16 subjects with congenital infantile hemiplegia participated in the study with an age mean of 5.54 years old (SD:1.55). Two intensive protocols for 5 weeks of modified constraint-induced movement therapy (mCIMT) or unimanual therapy without containment (UTWC) were executed 5 days per week (2 h/day). Affected upper limb visuomotor coordination (reaction time, task total time, active range, dynamic grasp) was measured before–after intensive therapy using a specific circuit with different slopes (10°/15°). Results: Statistically significant inter-group differences were found after the intervention, with clinically relevant results for the mCIMT group not seen in UTWC, in the following variables: reaction time 10°slope ( p = 0.003, d = 2.44), reaction time 15°slope ( p = 0.002, d = 2.15) as well as for the task total time 10°slope ( p = 0.002, d = 2.25), active reach 10°slope ( p = 0.002, d = 2.7), active reach 15°slope ( p = 0.003, d = 2.29) and dynamic grasp 10°/15°slopes ( p = <0.001, d = 2.69). There were not statistically significant inter-group differences in the total task time with 15°slope ( p = 0.074, d = 1.27). Conclusions: The use of unaffected hand containment in mCIMT would allow improvements in the affected upper limb’s visuomotor coordination. Thus, it would favor clinical practice to make decisions on therapeutic approaches to increase the affected upper limb functionality and action planning in children diagnosed with infantile hemiplegia (4–8 years old).

Modeling Within-Person Variance in Reaction Time Data of Older Adults

GeroPsych ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 24 (4) ◽  
pp. 169-176 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philippe Rast ◽  
Daniel Zimprich
Keyword(s):  
Reaction Time ◽  
Cognitive Aging ◽  
Reaction Times ◽  
Reaction Time Task ◽  
Reaction Time Data ◽  
Scale Model ◽  
Time Data ◽  
Time Task ◽  
The Mean ◽  
Second Wave

In order to model within-person (WP) variance in a reaction time task, we applied a mixed location scale model using 335 participants from the second wave of the Zurich Longitudinal Study on Cognitive Aging. The age of the respondents and the performance in another reaction time task were used to explain individual differences in the WP variance. To account for larger variances due to slower reaction times, we also used the average of the predicted individual reaction time (RT) as a predictor for the WP variability. Here, the WP variability was a function of the mean. At the same time, older participants were more variable and those with better performance in another RT task were more consistent in their responses.

THE RELIABILITY AND VALIDITY OF PROCEDURAL MEMORY ASSESSMENTS USED IN SECOND LANGUAGE ACQUISITION RESEARCH

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-28
Author(s):  
Joshua Buffington ◽  
Alexander P. Demos ◽  
Kara Morgan-Short
Keyword(s):  
Reaction Time ◽  
Discriminant Validity ◽  
Declarative Memory ◽  
Reliability And Validity ◽  
Reaction Time Task ◽  
Serial Reaction Time Task ◽  
Procedural Memory ◽  
Learning Ability ◽  
L2 Acquisition ◽  
Serial Reaction

Abstract Evidence for the role of procedural memory in second language (L2) acquisition has emerged in our field. However, little is known about the reliability and validity of the procedural memory measures used in this research. The present study (N = 119) examined the reliability and the convergent and discriminant validity of three assessments that have previously been used to examine procedural memory learning ability in L2 acquisition, the dual-task Weather Prediction Task (DT-WPT), the Alternating Serial Reaction Time Task (ASRT), and the Tower of London (TOL). Measures of declarative memory learning ability were also collected. For reliability, the DT-WPT and TOL tasks met acceptable standards. For validity, an exploratory factor analysis did not provide evidence for convergent validity, but the ASRT and the TOL showed reasonable discriminant validity with declarative memory measures. We argue that the ASRT may provide the purest engagement of procedural memory learning ability, although more reliable dependent measures for this task should be considered. The Serial Reaction Time task also appears promising, although we recommend further consideration of this task as the present analyses were post hoc and based on a smaller sample. We discuss these results regarding the assessment of procedural memory learning ability as well as implications for implicit language aptitude.

scholarly journals THE CONTRIBUTIONS OF IMPLICIT-STATISTICAL LEARNING APTITUDE TO IMPLICIT SECOND-LANGUAGE KNOWLEDGE

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-29
Author(s):  
Aline Godfroid ◽  
Kathy MinHye Kim
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Reaction Time ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Statistical Learning ◽  
Structural Equation ◽  
Reaction Time Task ◽  
Implicit Knowledge ◽  
Equation Modeling ◽  
Language Tests ◽  
Language Knowledge

Abstract This study addresses the role of domain-general mechanisms in second-language learning and knowledge using an individual differences approach. We examine the predictive validity of implicit-statistical learning aptitude for implicit second-language knowledge. Participants (n = 131) completed a battery of four aptitude measures and nine grammar tests. Structural equation modeling revealed that only the alternating serial reaction time task (a measure of implicit-statistical learning aptitude) significantly predicted learners’ performance on timed, accuracy-based language tests, but not their performance on reaction-time measures. These results inform ongoing debates about the nature of implicit knowledge in SLA: they lend support to the validity of timed, accuracy-based language tests as measures of implicit knowledge. Auditory and visual statistical learning were correlated with medium strength, while the remaining implicit-statistical learning aptitude measures were not correlated, highlighting the multicomponential nature of implicit-statistical learning aptitude and the corresponding need for a multitest approach to assess its different facets.

scholarly journals Manipulations of the Response-Stimulus Intervals as a Factor Inducing Controlled Amount of Reaction Time Intra-Individual Variability

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (5) ◽  
pp. 669
Author(s):  
Paweł Krukow ◽  
Małgorzata Plechawska-Wójcik ◽  
Arkadiusz Podkowiński
Keyword(s):  
Reaction Time ◽  
Simple Reaction Time ◽  
Reaction Times ◽  
Reaction Time Task ◽  
Assessment Method ◽  
Individual Variability ◽  
Simple Reaction Time Task ◽  
Stimulus Interval ◽  
Simple Reaction ◽  
Response Stimulus

Aggrandized fluctuations in the series of reaction times (RTs) are a very sensitive marker of neurocognitive disorders present in neuropsychiatric populations, pathological ageing and in patients with acquired brain injury. Even though it was documented that processing inconsistency founds a background of higher-order cognitive functions disturbances, there is a vast heterogeneity regarding types of task used to compute RT-related variability, which impedes determining the relationship between elementary and more complex cognitive processes. Considering the above, our goal was to develop a relatively new assessment method based on a simple reaction time paradigm, conducive to eliciting a controlled range of intra-individual variability. It was hypothesized that performance variability might be induced by manipulation of response-stimulus interval’s length and regularity. In order to verify this hypothesis, a group of 107 healthy students was tested using a series of digitalized tasks and their results were analyzed using parametric and ex-Gaussian statistics of RTs distributional markers. In general, these analyses proved that intra-individual variability might be evoked by a given type of response-stimulus interval manipulation even when it is applied to the simple reaction time task. Collected outcomes were discussed with reference to neuroscientific concepts of attentional resources and functional neural networks.

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