Research article summary (published 29 Sep 2009):

Investigation of goal change to optimize upper-extremity motor performance in a robotic environment.

Full Abstract

Robotic devices for therapy have the potential to enable intensive, fully customized home rehabilitation over extended periods for individuals with stroke and traumatic brain injury, thus empowering them to maximize their functional recovery. For robotic rehabilitation to be most effective, systems must have the capacity to assign performance goals to the user and to increment those goals to encourage performance improvement. Otherwise, individuals may plateau at an artificially low level of function. Frequent goal change is needed to motivate improvements in performance by individuals with brain injury; but because of entrenched habits, these individuals may avoid striving for goals that they perceive as becoming ever more difficult. For this reason, implicit, undetectable goal change (distortion) may be more effective than explicit goal change at optimizing the motor performance of some individuals with brain injury. This paper reviews a body of work that provides a basis for incorporating implicit goal change into a robotic rehabilitation paradigm. This work was conducted with individuals without disability to provide foundational knowledge for using goal change in a robotic environment. In addition, we compare motor performance with goal change to performance with no goal or with a static goal for individuals without brain injury. Our results show that goal change can improve motor performance when participants attend to visual feedback. Building on these preliminary results can lead to more effective robotic paradigms for the rehabilitation of individuals with brain injury, including individuals with cerebral palsy.

Author information

Author/s: Brewer, Bambi R (BR); Klatzky, Roberta (R); Markham, Heather (H); Matsuoka, Yoky (Y);

Affiliation: University of Pittsburgh, PA 15260, USA. bbrewer(-atsign-)pitt.edu

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Journal Article; Review

Journal: Developmental medicine and child neurology (Dev Med Child Neurol), published in England. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2009-Oct; vol 51 Suppl 4 (issue ) : pp 146-53

Dates: Created 2009/09/10; Completed 2009/10/06;

PMID: 19740223, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 10/6/2009, IMS Date: )

Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.

External Links for this article
(including full text providers, if available):

Click Electronic Full-text Provider Links to see options for finding the electronic full text links to this article. Note there may be a subscription or fee required for access to the full text. See our FAQ for information on finding FREE full text articles.

This article may also be located in paper journal collections available in many libraries. Use the Journal and Publication Information above to find the full article.

MeSH headings (categories)

This article was linked to the MESH Headings shown below.

Adult Arm Brain Injuries - therapy Cerebral Palsy - therapy Environment Feedback, Psychological Goals

Goals Humans Musculoskeletal Manipulations - methods Psychomotor Performance Robotics Stroke - therapy Visual Perception

Related articles

These are the highest related articles currently in the database:

• Does an early increased-intensity interdisciplinary upper limb therapy programme following acute stroke improve outcome? 30 Aug 2003
• Enhancement of motor rehabilitation through the use of information technologies. 27 Sep 2005
• Dynamic motion planning for the design of robotic gait rehabilitation. 30 Jul 2005
• A randomised controlled trial of different intensities of physiotherapy and different goal-setting procedures in 44 children with cerebral palsy. 28 Feb 1996
• Bimanual coordination during a goal-directed task in children with hemiplegic cerebral palsy. 30 Oct 2004
• Cerebral palsy. Management of the upper extremity. 30 Mar 1990
• Clinical use of neuromuscular electrical stimulation for children with cerebral palsy, Part 2: Upper extremity. 30 Jul 1993
• Setting goals for cognitive rehabilitation. 29 Nov 1999
• Robot-aided sensorimotor arm training improves outcome in patients with chronic stroke. 7 Dec 2003
• Control theory and psychopathology: an integrative approach. 30 May 2005

See 100+ related articles.

Related Article Map

Legend: - FREE Full text Article. - Abstract only. - Title only. More help.

See a large map of 100+ related articles.