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At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1990

Integrating motor control and motor learning concepts with neuropsychological perspectives on apraxia and developmental dyspraxia.

This paper reviews selected pertinent literature on the learning and performance of skilled motor acts. Information on normal motor performance is integrated with that on adult apraxia and related to common problems observed in children with developmental dyspraxia. The process of motor skill acquisition is outlined, and aspects of styles of motor organization, modes of control, premovement organization, sensory organization, and analysis of the types of errors are presented. Recommendations for clinicians working with children with developmental dyspraxia are offered.

Apraxias↗
PubMed1991

The motor control assessment: an instrument to measure motor control in physically disabled children.

The Motor Control Assessment has been developed as a research tool for the assessment of motor skills in physically disabled children. In tests of concurrent validity it was found to be highly correlated with the results of the Physical Abilities Chart (Pearson coefficient = .96), and satisfactorily correlated with ranking of motor ability assigned using the clinical judgment of physiotherapists (Spearman rank coefficients = .63 to .97 in diagnostic subgroups). Estimates of both interrater and intrarater reliability were also high, with intraclass coefficients above .95.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1989

Predictors of subsyllabic durations in speech motor control.

Speech motor control timing was examined by means of a multiple correlational analysis involving interarticulatory delay and speech rate as predictor variables, and four subsyllabic time segments of the syllable [ka] as dependent variables. The hypothesis was that the two putative temporal constraints have differential predictive capacity for various segments of the syllable. Results from 11 subjects were in support of the hypothesis. Syllable onset duration was reliably predicted by the linear addition of interarticulatory delay and speech rate, while the duration of the midportion of the syllable was nearly exclusively predicted by the overall speech rate. This model was found to be applicable to all conditions of normal and clenched teeth, context-free and contextual, normally paced and rapid speech production, with minor differences in predictive capacity for different conditions.

Adult↗
PubMed1978

Central control insufficiency. III. Disturbed motor control and sensation: a treatment approach emphasizing upper extremity orthoses.

In the discussion of the problems, the selection of patients, and some of the approaches to treatment, three major areas need emphasis. 1. Guidelines are necessary to select patients who require and can respond to treatment. The patients who will benefit the most must be identified and provided with structured therapy programs. 2. Effective bracing of the severely spastic wrist and hand may not be possible. The orthoses described are used to prevent deformity and relieve pain. 3. All motor control available to a patient must be incorporated immediately into the patient's daily activities.

Activities of Daily Living↗
PubMed1991

Laterality and motor control.

Lateralization in motor control, exemplified by handedness, is a publically observable lateral asymmetry. The understanding of causation of lateral asymmetry in movement is poor for two major reasons. First, structural limitations underlying lateral bias cannot be compelling in the sense that laterality is completely specified. Second, interacting sources of lateral bias are probably represented at several levels of the central nervous system, with some sources being many steps removed from the executing motor structures. Both factors permit flexibility in terms of which side does what. I suggest two approaches to improve understanding of mechanism. First, use of bimanual tasks which reduce flexibility in lateral expression and therefore provide more information than unimanual tasks. Second, analysis of task performances in terms of what levels of lateral specialization are likely to be involved. Such analyses will be especially useful in the understanding of hand use in left-handers who perform different skilled tasks with different hands.

Female↗
PubMed1986

Abnormalities of fine motor control in schizophrenia.

Response time and fine motor control during a classification task were examined in schizophrenics and nonschizophrenics. The task involved decisions about either the sensory characteristics of auditory and visual stimuli or the referential meanings of spoken words and viewed pictures. Nonschizophrenics responded more quickly and exhibited a smoother and faster motor response on all tasks. Response time and motor control were influenced by stimulus modality and the complexity of the classification task in both groups. In the analysis of motor control, the schizophrenics differed from the nonschizophrenics in exhibiting a pattern suggestive of a specific difficulty with decisions involving referential meaning. The observed motor control dysfunction in schizophrenics is a psychomotor deficit similar to previously reported abnormalities in smooth pursuit eye movement. Further, the interaction of group and task variables in the motor response suggests that decisions about the abstract referential meaning of words and pictures produce greater cognitive loads in schizophrenics than in nonschizophrenics.

Adult↗
PubMed1989

Motor control and the role of occupational therapy: past, present, and future.

Human motor behavior continues to evolve and, therefore, may never be fully understood. Still, occupational therapy treatment approaches that are based on neurophysiological principles are fairly well accepted, and there is much potential for the development of treatments that will facilitate recovery of function. Occupational therapy must face and confront its roles in relation to the field of motor control; a health care profession involved with performance and motor control issues cannot afford to ignore the rapid advances in neuroscience information and the parallel developments in the field of motor control. Rood (1980) stated that many people want a "womb with a view," so that they remain protected and yet passively observe the outside world. However, if occupational therapy is to remain current with new developments in the field of motor control, it cannot afford to be passive.

History, 20th Century↗
PubMed1988

Quantitative analyses of voluntary orofacial motor control in schizophrenia and tardive dyskinesia.

This paper reports the results of an investigation of voluntary control of lip, jaw, and tongue movements in schizophrenic patients with and without tardive dyskinesia. The aims of the study were to determine if voluntary orofacial motor control is disrupted in schizophrenia and to evaluate the relationship between voluntary motor control deficits and selected neurological and behavioral variables. Twenty-two schizophrenic patients and 13 normal control subjects were studied. Of the patients, 11 had moderate to severe TD. Analyses were made of performance on pursuit tracking tasks to evaluate differences between TD and non-TD patients and between medicated and currently unmedicated patients. The results indicated significant group differences in voluntary orofacial motor control. The finding that many non-TD patients exhibited voluntary motor dyscontrol suggests that this may represent a disorder independent of the involuntary dyskinesia. The findings indicated that the level of neuroleptic and/or antiparkinsonian medication was unrelated to the degree of voluntary motor control impairment. The results are discussed in terms of probable neurophysiological mechanisms underlying the motor control deficits in schizophrenia.

Adult↗
PubMed1991

Observations on the motor control of brief teeth clenching in man.

Without artificial feedback control, maximum voluntary isometric contractions were performed for about 1 s by six subjects. Randomly selected surface electromyograms of the anterior temporalis and masseter muscles suggested that, in some cases, the motor control of the entire isometric contraction might have been preprogrammed through the phenomenon of anticipation. In the majority of cases, the control of the initial contraction phase might have been preprogrammed, followed by a phase of servo-controlled motor activity. As a functional basis for the servo-control of isometric force generation, it was suggested that compartmentalized 'extrafusal and intrafusal motor units' were recruited and decruited in an orderly manner, and periods of alpha-motor inhibition were interpreted as signs of switching from one control scheme to another, possibly via a transcortical loop.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Biocybernetic investigations of pursuit and posture motor control--a strategy for a detailed characterization of movement disorders in brain-damaged children.

By means of a biocybernetic approach the pursuit and posture motor control of brain-damaged children with spastic hemiparesis and disturbed motor coordination of mild extent were investigated. The postural motor control system was loaded by pseudostochastic binary torque sequences applied to the wrist. The dynamics of this system were characterized on the basis of the parameters forearm displacement as well as surface-EMG of M. Biceps and Triceps (calculations of weight functions). The pursuit motor control was analyzed by a pursuit tracking method. By this way the motor capacity for fine and rough motor coordination, motor rhythm, motor adaptation, the maximal speed of movements and motor reaction time could be tested. Considering these results a characterization of movement control on different levels of motor regulation was possible (dynamics of muscular, spinal, and supraspinal components of motor control).

Brain Damage, Chronic↗
PubMed1989

Mathematical and philosophical reflections on motor control systems.

In line with the tradition of the Dutch school of functional morphology, an attempt is made to integrate numerical models of sarcomeres, muscle fibres, muscles, bone-connective-tissue systems, joints, muscle spindles and neural networks into one model simulating motor control. There are two purposes for this attempt. Firstly, to indicate whether numerical properties of the organs forming a system of motor control can be explained in terms of its motor functions. Secondly, to indicate properties that emerge from the integration of the organs into a system of motor control: how much more is an integrated motor system than the sum of its functional components. The motor control system of chewing has been taken as an example, particularly that in rats.

Animals↗
PubMed1991

Synergism by caffeine and by cocaine of the motor control deficit produced by midazolam.

To evaluate the effects of caffeine and cocaine on the impairment of discriminative motor control produced by midazolam, rats were trained to hold a force transducer operated with a paw so that it remained between upper and lower limits of a force band for a continuous 1.5-s period to deliver each food pellet. Acute doses of 3 mg/kg midazolam SC impaired motor performance. Except for one animal, caffeine (10-40 mg/kg IP) had little or no effect on performance, while cocaine (3.75-22.5 mg/kg IP) produced dose-related impairment. When each dose of caffeine was combined with 3 mg/kg midazolam, a marked synergism in motor performance impairment occurred. Cocaine plus midazolam produced mainly an additive synergism. The conspicuous synergistic action of caffeine on the motor control deficit produced by midazolam contrasts with the typical antagonism found between the benzodiazepines and methylxanthines when performance is evaluated by psychomotor tests not requiring fine motor control.

Animals↗
PubMed1989

An analysis of the relationship between proximal and distal motor control.

The purpose of this investigation was to test the ontogenetic principle that the development of proximal postural stability precedes, and is necessary for, the development of distal fine motor control. The Posture and Fine Motor Assessment of Infants (Case-Smith, 1987) was used to examine the relationship between proximal and distal motor function in 60 normal infants. Low positive partial correlations were found between components of posture and fine motor control. Although all partial correlations, except those between the head component of postural control and the fine motor scores, were significant, they were not strong enough to support the validity of the proximal-distal principle. They appear instead to reflect a functional rather than an ontogenetic relationship. These findings have implications for treatment and further research.

Child Development↗
PubMed1985

Issues in speech motor control and their relation to the speech of individuals with cleft palate.

A view of speech motor control is presented that is different from conventional coarticulation models. Rather than assuming that phonetic units specify targets for peripheral events, this view is based on holistic behavioral goals. The importance of discovering strategies that organize interactions among physiologic processes of the speech motor system is stressed. The concepts of motor flexibility and plasticity are developed. These motor control issues are used as the basis for discussing the relations among speech motor processes, critical minimum velopharyngeal port size, and speech adequacy in speakers with cleft palate. Different meanings of velopharyngeal incompetency are considered, and a potential misuse of the concept is explained. Finally, the developmental character of motor plasticity is discussed, and the implications of critical periods in speech motor learning are raised for children with cleft palate.

Cleft Palate↗
PubMed1991

Dorsal rhizotomy for children with cerebral palsy: support for concepts of motor control.

The results from selective dorsal rhizotomy research suggest that therapists need to question some common clinical assumptions about movement dysfunction. The rationale for performing a selective dorsal rhizotomy is based on the clinical assumptions that spasticity is the underlying cause of disordered movement and that reducing or eliminating the spasticity will improve movement. This article reviews the literature related to movement dysfunction, the effects of selective dorsal rhizotomy, and the evidence for disordered motor control in children with spastic cerebral palsy. Selective dorsal rhizotomy appears to reduce spasticity and increase joint range of motion. Abnormal movement patterns, however, persist after the spasticity is reduced. Well-coordinated movement patterns are acquired slowly and appear to be related to an intense period of physical therapy. I argue that these results provide evidence that the presence of spasticity alone is an insufficient explanation for abnormal movement patterns. I propose that physical therapists redirect their efforts from developing methods for reducing spasticity to developing adequate assessment, treatment, and measurement techniques for assessing motor control in children with cerebral palsy. I believe we can maximize the functional potential of children with cerebral palsy by identifying problems related to motor control and applying sound principles of motor learning to treatment.

Cerebral Palsy↗
PubMed1988

A method for the biocybernetic physiological investigation of postural motor control and its disorders in children.

On a biocybernetic basis, a method for the investigation of human postural motor control with optimal multifrequent binary test-signals is described. The examinations presented demonstrate that a comprehensive and quantitative characterization of normal postural motor control and its disorders is possible by means of this method in children. The examination time is short, the motor task used is simple, and the load is physiologically adequate and standardized.

Child↗