Matching Items (78)
Description
The research being proposed would develop an objective test for handedness analyzing circle-drawing movements performed with the dominant arm versus non-dominant arm. Handedness is a unique and exceptional characteristic of human beings which impacts society on an individual basis that has far-reaching influence. Its correlation and possible causation has been studied and implied in everything from mental disorders (Deep-Soboslay et al. 2010) to advanced biological processes (Driscoll, Kei, & McPherson, 2002). Despite the importance of handedness, there are many faults surrounding the widely used methods for determining and classifying handedness. The most common of these, the Edinburgh Handedness Inventory, especially suffers from reporter bias, possibly confusing categories and instructions, and underestimating ambidextrous or mixed handedness. Research done by R.L. Sainburg of Penn State and N. Dounskaia of Arizona State University points to a possible method of measuring handedness. The findings of these studies show show that the dominant arm to perform better in drawing movements than the non-dominant arm. It is proposed that an objective test could be developed for handedness using circle-drawing tasks. A participant would draw circles with both arms, these movements would be analyzed to show which arm was dominant by showing which arm made the more perfect circle. By developing an objective test, handedness could be more properly classified and assessed, helping aid research and understanding in how handedness affects humans.
ContributorsKleisler, Kevin C. (Author) / Dounskaia, Natalia (Thesis director) / Ringenbach, Shannon (Committee member) / Wang, Wanyue (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Nutrition and Health Promotion (Contributor)
Created2013-12
Description
Persons with Down Syndrome (DS) have been repeatedly shown to have timing deficits, to move slowly, and to not follow metronomes. This timing deficit in persons with DS requires further study because timing is fundamental to movement control. Furthermore, brain imaging studies have proposed a rate effect in which increased cortical activation in the primary motor cortex was observed during increased finger movement frequency. The aim of the current study was to determine if the rate effect was present in persons with DS by comparing brain activation in self-selected and as fast as possible rates. Eight participants with DS performed unimanual drumming at their self-selected and maximal rates. Movement rate was measured at EEG was collected in the alpha (8-12 Hz) and Beta (13-30 Hz) frequencies from C3 and C4. The results showed that overall, their self-selected rates were slower than their maximal rates, indicating that they are capable of modifying their movement rate with general instructions. Furthermore, there were significant differences in Beta in which there was more activation during as fast as possible than self-selected tapping in both sides of the primary motor cortex in persons with DS. This suggests that their brains are activated in a similar manner as the typical population with respect to movement rate. Overall, our results suggest that while interventions that involve timing to specific rates are difficult, people with DS can perform at self-selected and maximal rates. The results of our study show that they can alter movement rate when provided with general instruction or additional motivation.
ContributorsCarrington, Elise Almader (Author) / Ringenbach, Shannon (Thesis director) / Crews, Debbie (Committee member) / Hillman, Charles (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Life Sciences (Contributor) / School of Nutrition and Health Promotion (Contributor)
Created2013-05
Description
Individuals with Down syndrome (DS) display significantly earlier symptoms of Alzheimer's disease (AD) beginning around age 35. Because AD-like symptoms tend to be ever present in those with DS, it is difficult to accurately evaluate those with DS for earlier onset of AD. It has been suggested that physical activity and sleep are potential measures to monitor for manifestations of early AD-like symptoms in people with DS. Our lab has previously shown remarkable improvements in physical activity, cognition, and motor control while using Assisted Cycle Therapy (ACT) for adolescents with DS, Parkinson's disease (PD), and stroke populations. This novel exercise intervention is suggested to mediate improvements in cerebral activation through upregulated neurogenesis, angiogenesis, and neuro-plastic mechanisms. Despite prior research, there remains to be limited studies behind these concepts in adults with DS and sleep, which is suspected to be an accurate metric for AD-like manifestations. Fifteen older adult participants with DS were assigned to one of two cycling interventions: ACT or VC. All participants were provided Fitbit HR devices for sleep and physical activity tracking. Only five adults had viable continuous collection of data for both sleep and physical activity. While none of our results reached conventional levels of significance, there were trends towards significance in the VC group for total steps taken and in the ACT group for sleep-onset latency (SOL). Individual cases of improvement were noted but it globally can be supported that Fitbit devices are not optimistic for adults with DS due to poor long-term compliance. It comes to no surprise to those involved with these groups that cooperativity tends to be low with long term interventions in research design. In spite of this significant barrier, Fitbit devices offer to be a reliable and inexpensive record keeper of physical activity and sleep. Future research should lean to investigate the viability of Fitbit devices within younger populations, the role of heart rate variability on sleep efficiency and sleep onset latency in DS, and utilize more extensive compliance reinforcement to obtain volume of data collection needed to establish significant measurements of physical activity and sleep in populations with DS.
ContributorsDietz, Matthew David (Author) / Ringenbach, Shannon (Thesis director) / Holzapfel, Simon (Committee member) / School of Nutrition and Health Promotion (Contributor) / School of Molecular Sciences (Contributor) / Dean, W.P. Carey School of Business (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-12
Description
Individuals with Down Syndrome (DS) are subject to a spectrum of behavioral, cognitive and physical impairments. This population is more predisposed to comorbidity and typically has an increased risk of inactivity resulting in a lower level of fitness. Previous studies on physical activity have shown that routine exercise has similar health benefits for those with DS as those individuals without a disability and in turn progresses their balance ability. Due to limited exercise program opportunities and studies that intentionally investigate the benefits of specific modes of exercise on the DS population, a community-based Exercise Program for Adults with DS (ExDS) was created with the goal of improving their physical and mental health and measuring changes in their balance capabilities throughout the program. ExDS partnered with Arizona State University (ASU) students to create biweekly customized workouts, that followed exercise prescription guidelines, consisting of an aerobic warm-up, main aerobic exercise bout, resistance training, balance training, and stretching for each participant with DS. Participant dynamic and static balance ability was measured using the Berg Balance Scale (BBS) during program pre- and post-assessments. The BBS composite score did not change and no significant improvement was seen in the p-values for each line item of the BBS from pre- to post-testing. For follow-up analyses, the participants with low treatment fidelity were removed. Follow-up analyses showed significant increases in BBS composite score and line item 13 from pre- to post-testing. Treatment fidelity was a limitation in this study and future studies should aim to increase fidelity and consistency of tester for pre- and post-testing. In conclusion, holistic exercise programming for adults with DS appears to benefit balance as long as treatment fidelity is high. It is unclear which mode of exercise had the greatest impact on changes in balance.
ContributorsShikles, Ann Kelly (Author) / Holzapfel, Simon (Thesis director) / Ringenbach, Shannon (Committee member) / School of Life Sciences (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-12
Description
Executive function is a crucial part of daily living and activities for individuals with Down Syndrome (DS). The aim of this study was to examine if Assisted Cycle Therapy (ACT) would improve cognitive planning as measured by the Tower of London (TOL), set switching as measured by the modified Wisconsin Card Sorting Test, and spatial memory as measured by the Corsi Block Test in older adults with DS. Twenty-six participants were randomly assigned to one of three interventions over eight weeks. 1) Thirteen older adults with DS completed the ACT intervention, which is stationary cycling with the assistance of a motor to maintain a cadence at least 35% greater than voluntary cycling. 2) Eleven older adults with DS completed voluntary cycling (VC) and 3) Two older adults with DS were in our no cycling intervention. There were tests administered a week prior to the invention (or no intervention) and one week after their completed intervention (or no intervention). The pre- and post-tests were used to assess different measures, which could have been influenced from the eight-week intervention. The measures analyzed from our study were as followed; Tower of London, Card Sorting Test, and the Corsi Block Test. Our results showed that cognitive planning improved after ACT and VC, but not NC. Cognitive planning was assessed through the TOL task and showed improvements after the eight-week intervention (due to its sensitive nature in analyzing smaller changes pre- and post-intervention). Our results are discussed with respect to upregulation of neurotrophic factors that increase functioning in the prefrontal cortex that accompanies exercise.
ContributorsLopez, Corinna Lolita (Author) / Ringenbach, Shannon (Thesis director) / Holzapfel, Simon (Committee member) / School for the Science of Health Care Delivery (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2017-12
Description
The aim of this study was to examine the influence of Assisted Cycling Therapy (ACT) on information processing measured by simple reaction time in older adults with Down Syndrome (DS). Twenty-one participants were randomly assigned to one of three interventions over eight weeks. 1) Eleven older adults with Down Syndrome completed the ACT intervention, which is stationary cycling with the assistance of a motor to maintain a cadence at least 35% greater than voluntary cycling. 2) Eight older adults with Down Syndrome completed the voluntary cycling (VC) intervention and 3) two older adults with Down Syndrome were in our no cycling (NC) intervention. Both exercise groups participated in the eight-week, supervised exercise protocol for at least three, 30-minute sessions per week. None of our results reached conventional levels of significance. However, the greatest improvements in reaction time occurred following the voluntary cycling (VC) intervention. Our results are discussed with respect to physiological differences in older adults with DS that may limit improvements in executive function following exercise. These physiological differences and limitations include muscle atrophy and reduced perceptions, age related latency between motor cortex activation and onset of muscle activity, as well as general age related slowing in reaction time. Although it may be difficult to improve executive function in older adults with DS, we suggest other benefits to exercise which include improving social communication, gross motor skills, and exercise perception. Future research should continue to investigate the effects of exercise on multiple areas in older adults with DS with the hopes of improving quality of life.
ContributorsCahill, Colleen Mary (Author) / Ringenbach, Shannon (Thesis director) / Amazeen, Eric (Committee member) / School of Nutrition and Health Promotion (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-05
Description
The aim of this study was to examine the effects of Assisted Cycle Therapy (ACT) on self-efficacy and exercise perception in older adults with Down syndrome (DS) after a three times a week for 8 weeks intervention. Thirteen participants were in the ACT group in which a motor assisted their cycling to be performed at least 30% faster than voluntary cycling (VC), 11 participants were in the voluntary cycling group and two participants were in the no cycling (NC) group. The results showed that both exercise groups (i.e., ACT and VC) improved in their self-efficacy after the 8 week intervention. In addition, exercise perception improved following ACT and not VC or NC. Our results are discussed with respect to their future implications for exercise in the DS population. It might be that the yielded results were due to differences in effort required by each intervention group as well as the neurotrophic factors that occur when muscle contractions create synaptic connections resulting in improvement in cognition and feelings of satisfaction. In the future, research should focus on the psychological factors such as social accountability and peer interaction as they relate to ACT and physical activity in person's with DS.
ContributorsTucker, Kori Ann (Author) / Ringenbach, Shannon (Thesis director) / Arnold, Nathaniel (Committee member) / Holzapfel, Simon (Committee member) / School of Nutrition and Health Promotion (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-05
Description
Lower extremity function is vital for activities of daily living especially in stroke survivors. An innovative way to improve lower extremity function may be Assisted Cycle Therapy. This is among the first studies to examine ACT in stroke survivors. Twenty-three participants post-stroke performed ACT, VC and NC and pre and post measures of lower extremity function were conducted with the Lower Extremity Motor Coordination Test (LEMOCOT). The results showed that the non-paretic lower extremity improved its function after ACT, but not after VC or NC. Lower extremity function in the paretic leg improved after ACT and VC, but not after NC. These results suggest that ACT resulted in increased production of BDNF in the motor cortex which resulted in improvements in global motor function.
ContributorsSzeto, Monica (Author) / Ringenbach, Shannon (Thesis director) / Holzapfel, Simon (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-12
Description
The purpose of this study, originally, was to contribute to the completion of a meta-analysis conducted by Mara Wierstra from the University of Virginia. Wierstra had requested individual participant data from two separate studies conducted in our lab: "Acute bouts of assisted cycling improves cognitive and upper extremity movement functions in adolescents with Down syndrome" and "Assisted Cycling Therapy (ACT) improves inhibition in adolescents with autism spectrum disorder." From the data requested, the participants were required to complete three separate tests (i.e., Tower of London, Trail Making Task and the Stroop Test). After compiling the data and sending it to her, we decided to conduct a small meta-analysis of our own, drawing connecting conclusions from the data from the two studies. We concluded that observationally our data suggest an advantage for ACT over voluntary cycling and no cycling across two separate populations (i.e., Autism Spectrum Disorder and Down syndrome), and across different measures of executive function (i.e., Stroop Test, Trail Making Test, and Tower of London). The data suggest that the ACT interventions may promote the upregulation of neurotropic factors leading to neurogenesis in the prefrontal cortex of the brain.
ContributorsParker, Cade Joseph (Author) / Ringenbach, Shannon (Thesis director) / Holzapfel, Simon (Committee member) / School of Nutrition and Health Promotion (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-12
Description
Upper extremity function is vital for activities of daily living especially in stroke survivors. An innovative way to improve upper extremity function has been shown with Assisted Cycle Therapy (ACT). This is among the first study to examine ACT in stroke survivors. 13 stroke survivors performed ACT, VC, and NC and pre and post measures of upper extremity function were conducted with the box and blocks test (BBT). The results showed that non-paretic upper extremity improved its function after ACT and VC, but not after NC. For the paretic arm, while the results did not reach conventional levels of significance, improvements in upper extremity function following ACT more so than VC or NC. These results were interpreted to suggest that ACT resulted in increased production of BDNF in the motor cortex, which resulted in improvements in global motor function.
ContributorsHeyer, Brittany Nicole (Author) / Ringenbach, Shannon (Thesis director) / Holzapfel, Simon (Committee member) / School of Nutrition and Health Promotion (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-12