Suprapostural Attention Focus and Postural Difficulty on H-reflex and Brain Activity: Aging and Parkinson's Disease

NCT02539446 | Completed

• 1 other identifier: 201312077RINC
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 30
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 2

Brief Summary

Inherent with intricate allocation of brain resource and attention shift, postural-suprapostural task is defined as postural control takes place while the other concurrent task is being performed. Recent studies have indicated that attentional focusing alters attention allocation in the brain as well as motor performance of a postural-suprapostural task. Also, most studies have demonstrated benefits of inducing an external focus relative to internal focus for motor performance. However, postural difficulty might be a critical factor for choosing an appropriate focusing strategy, and the strategy used in a particular difficulty level do not always generalize to other difficulty levels. Besides, despite a lot of studies have been done, current findings are confined to behavioral observations in young healthy adults for lacking direct neural evidence. With the uses of H-reflex, event-related potential and behavioral measures, the purpose of the 3-year research project is to investigate the differences in performance quality and intrinsic neural mechanisms of a postural-suprapostural task for older adults and patients with Parkinson's disease, by adopting external and internal strategies for suprapostural task under different posture difficulties. In the first year, the investigators will characterize suprapostural focusing effect on reciprocity of a postural-suprapostural task, with a special focus on modulation of motoneuron excitability in sitting and standing posture for healthy young and older adults using H-reflex technique. In the second year, the adaptive selection of suprapostural focusing strategy will be investigated for patients with Parkinson's disease by varying the standing surface (stable/unstable surface). In the third year, the investigators will investigate suprapostural focusing effect on brain resource allocation for patients with Parkinson's disease, in light of event-related potential and movement-related potential. The present project is expected to have significant contributions not only to gain a better insight to neural correlates of concurrent postural and motor suprapostural tasks with internal/external focusing strategy under different posture difficulty, but to optimize treatment strategy for older adults and patients with Parkinson's disease with balance or multi-tasking disturbances.

Conditions

Parkinson

Keywords

Aging; External focus; Internal focus; Attention; Posture balance; Parkinson's disease

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (1)

• H-reflex analysis

  The value of soleus H/Mmax ratio is measured as the motoneuron excitability

  1 week

Secondary Outcomes (2)

• EMG analysis

  1 week

• postural sway analysis

  1 week

Study Arms (2)

stable condition & attentional focus

OTHER

for measure the relationships between task difficulty and attentional focus on supraposture

Behavioral: stable condition; Behavioral: attentional focus

unstable condition & attentional focus

OTHER

for measure the relationships between task difficulty and attentional focus on supraposture

Behavioral: unstable condition; Behavioral: attentional focus

Interventions

stable condition BEHAVIORAL

stable condition & attentional focus

unstable condition BEHAVIORAL

unstable condition & attentional focus

attentional focus BEHAVIORAL

Also known as: internal focus, external focus

stable condition & attentional focus; unstable condition & attentional focus

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 20 Years+
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Age Groups: Adult (18-64), Older Adult (65+)

You may qualify if:

• Independent standing balance on air pillow at least 20 sec
• No neurologic or orthopedic disorder

You may not qualify if:

• Had relative experience before
• Pregnant women

Sponsors & Collaborators

• National Taiwan University Hospital: lead

Study Sites (2)

National Taiwan University Hospital

Taipei, 100, Taiwan

Location

School and Graduate Institute of Physical Therapy, College of Medicine, National Taiwan University

Taipei, 100, Taiwan

Location

Related Publications (2)

• Yu SH, Wu RM, Huang CY. Attentional Resource Associated With Visual Feedback on a Postural Dual Task in Parkinson's Disease. Neurorehabil Neural Repair. 2020 Oct;34(10):891-903. doi: 10.1177/1545968320948071. Epub 2020 Aug 24.

  PMID: 32830603 DERIVED

• Huang CY, Chen YA, Hwang IS, Wu RM. Improving Dual-Task Control With a Posture-Second Strategy in Early-Stage Parkinson Disease. Arch Phys Med Rehabil. 2018 Aug;99(8):1540-1546.e2. doi: 10.1016/j.apmr.2018.02.013. Epub 2018 Mar 31.

  PMID: 29608901 DERIVED

MeSH Terms

Conditions

Parkinson Disease

Condition Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Parkinsonian Disorders; Basal Ganglia Diseases; Brain Diseases; Central Nervous System Diseases; Nervous System Diseases; Movement Disorders; Synucleinopathies; Neurodegenerative Diseases

Study Officials

• Cheng-Ya Huang

  National Taiwan University

  PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Masking: NONE
• Purpose: OTHER
• Intervention Model: CROSSOVER
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: SPONSOR

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: October 21, 2014
• First Posted: September 3, 2015
• Study Start: October 1, 2014
• Primary Completion: October 1, 2014
• Study Completion: September 1, 2016
• Last Updated: December 16, 2019

Record last verified: 2016-10

Data Sharing

• IPD Sharing: Will not share

Locations

TW (2)