Generalization of functional task-specific motor training in older adults

 描述(由申请人提供)：这是犹他州州立大学助理教授西德尼·谢弗博士提交的导师研究科学家发展奖(K01)的申请书。此K01应用程序的目的是通过有针对性的课程学习、临床暴露和职业产品，战略性地提升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。候选人的支持性和成功的体制环境确保正式的职业发展计划将增加她在人员流动方面的现有专长。她的长期职业目标是成为一名独立的终身科学家，拥有一个外部资助的研究项目，该项目将影响老年人身体康复领域。目前，超过40%的身体康复病例是65岁或以上的成年人。一种常用的治疗方法是特定任务训练，即患者反复练习一种功能性运动技能，这是日常生活中有意义的活动的基础。然而，目前的康复实践没有为老年患者提供足够的治疗时间来处理多种技能；因此，老年人必须能够推广他们的康复治疗的好处。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够概括所学信息，以及概括是否受到认知状况的影响，因为许多老年人容易受到认知衰退的影响。在这个项目中，65岁或65岁以上的成年人将接受一项模拟进食的功能性运动任务的训练，但将接受另一项模拟穿衣的未受过训练的功能性运动任务的测试。中心假设是，未经训练的任务(模拟穿衣)在练习了训练的任务(模拟进食)后会变得不那么困难，也不那么容易分心，但这些普遍的好处在认知状态较低的成年人中会减弱。结果将与没有运动训练的受试者的对照数据进行比较，这一假设将使用具有成本效益的现实工具进行检验。如果功能性运动任务之间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，如果老年人可以在不同认知状态的功能性运动任务之间推广运动学习，那么患有痴呆症的肢体残疾成年人可能会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，为她未来提交的R01报告做准备，这些报告涉及老年人的身体康复，从而使他们的生活质量最大化。

 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.