Exercise and Motor Learning
How does exercise impact motor learning? We're doing a study to examine the impact of exercise on the healthy aging and stroke affected brains ability to learn a new motor task. We do this by looking at the changes in your ability to do a motor task with practice (your motor learning) and looking at differences in that change between people who exercise and people who rest. We are using Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) and Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) to look at the neurological underpinnings for those changes and differences. To look at the study in more detail please click on the link above!
Individuals with early and severe upper limb impairment after stroke have the poorest prognosis for functional recovery. This project will build a data set that seeks to shed light on 'who recovers' and 'who does not recover' meaningful upper limb function by examining how the severely damaged brain changes over the first year post stroke. A series of brain scans and clinical tests of motor recovery will be performed on adults with severe upper limb impairment after their first stroke. Their upper limb use during training and real world settings will also be documented. This project will support the development of personalized training approaches that exploit an individual’s brain and functional reserve to maximize their motor recovery after stroke. This project is a collaboration between Professor Lara Boyd and Dr Kate Hayward from the Brain Behaviour Lab, and Professor Julie Bernhardt at The Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health, Melbourne Australia; and Professor Catherine Lang at Washington University Program in Physical Therapy, St Louis USA.