Projects

The theoretical understanding of human motor control and learning has a strong impact on the diagnosis and treatment of motor disorders, and vice versa. Recent progress has been made in the understanding of motor control and learning, particularly with respect to understanding the functional role of neuro-behavioural variability that is inherent to sensorimotor control. However, this progress has not yet been transferred appropriately into ...

Parkinson’s disease (PD) is characterized by severe motor symptoms, including postural instability and upper limb dysfunction that are only partially alleviated by medication. PD is also a motor learning disease due to the degradation of the striatum, involved in the consolidation of motor memory. We showed earlier that motor practice improves writing deficits and that there is long term potential when it is applied in a focused manner. ...

Memory consolidation – the process by which recently acquired memories are transformed into stable, long-term memory traces – has long been considered to be a relatively slow process that can span hours to days. Pioneering work over the last decade has demonstrated that this consolidation process can be accelerated if the learned information was consistent with pre-existing knowledge (referred to as cognitive schemata). While considerable ...

Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder that impairs the acquisition of motor skills and motor coordination and affects 1.8-5.5% individuals worldwide. Since a sufficient level of motor control is needed to participate in daily life activities, it is important to understand the nature of these motor learning deficits in order to develop specific motor training for this target audience. Although several ...

When learning motor tasks across the lifespan, it is crucial to know which types of training lead to the best possible outcome. Learning and retention can be facilitated by presenting an optimal level of desirable difficulty during practice by means of manipulating practice structure, an effect called contextual interference (CI). CI is generally induced by using a randomized rather than blocked ...

Parkinson's disease (PD) is characterized by severe motor symptoms, including upper limb dysfunction that is only partially alleviated by medication. PD is also a motor learning disease due to the degradation of the striatum, involved in the consolidation of motor memory. We showed earlier that motor practice improves writing deficits and that there is long term potential when it is applied in a focused manner. However, ...

Rehabilitation is an important therapeutic strategy for patients with Parkinson’s disease (PD), whereby motor adaptations are learned to maintain daily functioning. However, patients often present difficulty consolidating newly learned skills into long-term memory, which reduces the benefits of training. Interventions that enhance consolidation are therefore projected to diminish the impact of PD. Sleep facilitates motor ...

Parkinson’s disease (PD) is characterized by severe motor symptoms that can only be partially alleviated by medication. We showed earlier that rehabilitation is an important therapeutic supplement for micrographia in early disease. However, what is unknown is how motor learning impacts on the underlying neural networks in patients with different disease progression and how this interacts with dopaminergic medication. Furthermore, difficulties ...