Generalization of functional task-specific motor training in older adults

 描述（由申请人提供）：这是一份由犹他州州立大学助理教授Sydney Schaefer博士提交的指导研究科学家发展奖（K 01）申请。该K 01应用程序的目的是通过有针对性的课程，临床曝光和职业产品，从战略上提高候选人在神经心理学，残疾和老年物理康复领域的职业生涯。候选人的支持和成功的机构环境，确保正式的职业发展计划将增加她在人类运动的现有专业知识。她的长期职业目标是成为一名独立的终身科学家，拥有外部资助的研究项目，该项目将影响老年人的身体康复领域。目前，超过40%的所有物理康复病例是65岁或以上的成年人。一种常用的治疗方法是任务特定的训练，其中患者反复练习功能性运动技能，这些技能是有意义的日常生活活动的基础。然而，目前的康复实践并没有为老年患者提供足够的治疗时间来解决多种技能;因此，老年人必须能够概括他们康复治疗的好处。这项为期四年的研究计划的目的是测试老年人在特定任务训练后是否能概括所学信息，以及概括是否受到认知状态的影响，因为许多老年人容易出现认知能力下降。在这个项目中，65岁或以上的成年人将在一个功能性运动任务上训练，模拟喂养，但将在另一个未经训练的功能性运动任务上进行测试，模拟穿衣。中心假设是，未经训练的任务（模拟穿衣）将变得不那么困难，并在练习训练任务（模拟喂养）后，不容易分心，但这些普遍的好处将在认知状态较低的成年人中减弱。将结果与来自没有运动训练的受试者的对照数据进行比较，并使用具有成本效益的真实世界工具来测试这一假设。如果功能性运动任务之间的运动学习的泛化取决于认知状态，那么未来的研究将确定哪些特定的认知障碍最能预测身体康复的结果。或者，如果老年人可以在功能性运动任务之间概括运动学习，而不管认知状态如何，那么患有痴呆症的肢体残疾成年人可能与没有认知障碍的成年人一样从康复中受益。候选人在认知评估和残疾模型方面的额外培训将补充她的研究计划，为她将来提交R 01文件做好准备，这些文件涉及老年人的身体康复，从而最大限度地提高他们的生活质量。

 DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This is an application for a Mentored Research Scientist Development Award (K01), submitted by Dr. Sydney Schaefer, Assistant Professor at Utah State University. The purpose of this K01 application is to strategically enhance the candidate's career in the areas of neuropsychology, disability, and geriatric physical rehabilitation through targeted coursework, clinical exposure, and career products. The candidate's supportive and successful institutional environment ensures that the formal career development plan will add to her existing expertise in human movement. Her long-term career goal is to become an independent, tenured scientist with an externally funded research program that will impact the field of physical rehabilitation for older adults. Currently more than 40% of ll physical rehabilitation cases are adults age 65 or older. A commonly used treatment is task-specific training, in which patients repetitively practice a functional motor skill that underlies meaningful activity of daily living. Current rehabilitative practice does not, however, provide older patients with enough time in therapy to address multiple skills; thus, older adults must be able to generalize the benefits of their rehabilitative treatment. The purpose of this four-year research plan is to test whether older adults can generalize learned information after task-specific training, and if generalization is influenced by cognitive status, as many older adults ar susceptible to cognitive decline. In this project, adults age 65 or older will train on one functioal motor task that simulates feeding, but will be tested on a different untrained functional motor task that simulates dressing. The central hypothesis is that the untrained task (simulated dressing) will become less difficult and less distractible after practicing the trained task (simulated feeding), but that these generalized benefits will be attenuated in adults with lower cognitive status. Results will be compared to control data from subjects with no motor training, and this hypothesis will be tested using cost-effective real-world tools. If the generalization of motor learning between functional motor tasks depends on cognitive status, then future research will identify which specific cognitive impairments best predict physical rehabilitative outcomes. Alternatively, if older adults can generalize motor learning between functional motor tasks regardless of cognitive status, then physically disabled adults with dementia may benefit equally from rehabilitation as adults without cognitive impairment. The candidate's additional training in cognitive assessment and disablement models will complement her research plan, preparing her for future R01 submissions that address physical rehabilitation in older adults and thereby maximize their quality of life.