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!
We developed a gamified arm rehabilitation task for people with stroke that is personalized to individual capacity for paretic arm movement, provides a high dose of practice, progresses through increasingly difficulty levels that are dependent on the performance of the individual, and is practiced in an engaging environment. The objectives of the this study are to determine if 20 days of gamified, object intercept training using the paretic arm would improve arm movement speed and clinical outcome measures of impairment or function. Our hope is to gamify rehabilitation, creating an enjoyable experience for patients that will extend the exercises that they perform in structured therapy to regain limb functionality. For more information on this study please check out an article written about the study by the Vancouver Coastal Health Research Institute which can be found at the following link. Gamified stroke recovery improves arm function | VCH Research Institute
The main goal of this research study is to identify biomarkers that can be used to predict response to brain stimulation interventions. We will use this information to predict how individual patients will respond and how much recovery we can expect. Research of this kind is urgently needed to rapidly advance recovery of function after stroke. This work will define a new therapy for stroke patients and identify who it is most likely to benefit.
The cerebellum is an important brain structure that is connected to many brain regions and is involved in both motor and cognitive functions. Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), a safe and non-invasive tool to modulate brain activity, has been delivered over the cerebellum to study its function, but we know little about the changes in other parts of the brain following cerebellar stimulation. The main goal of this study is to build knowledge of how cerebellar repetitive TMS changes brain excitability and connectivity. We are looking for volunteers between the ages of 19 and 35 years old.
How does knee osteoarthritis affect the brain and spinal cord (central nervous system)? Most treatment in knee osteoarthritis is focused on the knee joint. Our study is looking at how people with and without painful knee osteoarthritis differ in central nervous system processing of pressure and pinprick sensations, and whether this has a relationship to pain intensity. Using a non-invasive brain stimulation tool called transcranial magnetic stimulation, we are also looking at “excitability” changes in different parts of the sensory and motor brain areas, and making the same comparisons. The results of this study will increase understanding about how the central nervous system changes with chronic knee pain, and help identify therapeutic targets (beyond the knee joint) to improve motor function and decrease pain.
This research project is to evaluate the impact of a compassion-based intervention, specifically a one-day Loving-Kindness Meditation (LKM) training, on psychological and behavioural outcomes related to stress and emotional wellbeing, as well as brain functional activity changes among school teachers. Given the high prevalence of burnout in the teaching profession and the emerging evidence that compassion training can enhance emotional resilience and reduce distress, this study aims to explore whether a brief, targeted intervention can produce meaningful improvements in teachers’ self-reported wellbeing and associated brain activity. This research will contribute to a growing body of literature on compassion training in education and may inform future efforts to support teacher mental health through accessible, evidence-based programs. For more information please watch the study information video at the following link. Compassion Study Informational Video