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Project

Diagnostics and recovery of motor function in children with traumatic brain injury: neural structure-function relationships regarding motor coordination.

The ability to discern body/limb positions and movements (i.e. proprioception) is critical for many aspects of movement control. Impaired proprioception has been linked with balance problems in children with traumatic brain injury (TBI), leading to difficulties in performing daily activities. This proposal consists of 4 stages. First, we will describe proprioceptive deficits via a dynamic position test and investigate whether these deficits have an impact on sensorimotor tasks such as postural control. Secondly, we will determine the neural correlates associated with such deficiencies. Thirdly, we will investigate whether alterations in white matter connections/diffuse axonal injuries (DAI) contribute to the observed proprioceptive deficits and compensatory neural recruitment patterns in the TBI group, i.e., neural overactivation. Finally, we will determine whether dedicated long-term motor training programmes in TBI children promote proprioceptive acuity and whether this is supported by functional and/or structural changes in the brain, i.e., neuroplastic changes in neural activation and in white matter/pathway connectivity. This may ultimately lead to the development of more effective neurorehabilitation strategies to enhance the sensorimotor abilities of TBI children.
Date:1 Oct 2010 →  30 Sep 2012
Keywords:Motor control, Children, Traumatic brain injury, fMRI, DTI, Balance, Neurplasticity
Disciplines:Orthopaedics, Neurosciences, Biological and physiological psychology, Cognitive science and intelligent systems, Developmental psychology and ageing, Animal experimental and comparative psychology, Applied psychology, Human experimental psychology