Sensorimotor Challenges Research Articles

Childhood Sensory Processing Differences & Quality of Life as Adults

Abstract Date Presented 03/21/24 This longitudinal study supports the role of OT in improving childhood sensorimotor challenges as a factor that may affect adult quality of life. It contributes to our knowledge of the long-term outcomes of childhood sensorimotor challenges. Primary Author and Speaker: Teresa A. May-Benson Additional Authors and Speakers: Olivia Easterbrooks-Dick Contributing Authors: Alison Teasdale

Sensorimotor Challenges in Minimally Invasive Surgery: A Theoretically-Oriented Review.

This review surveys the literature on sensorimotor challenges impacting performance in laparoscopic minimally invasive surgery (MIS). Despite its well-known benefits for patients, achieving proficiency in MIS can be challenging for surgeons due to many factors including altered visual perspectives and fulcrum effects in instrument handling. Research on these and other sensorimotor challenges has been hindered by imprecise terminology and the lack of a unified theoretical framework to guide research questions in the field. We conducted a systematic survey of the MIS literature, focusing on studies investigating sensorimotor challenges affecting laparoscopic performance. To provide a common foundation for cross-study comparisons, we propose a standardized taxonomy that distinguishes between different experimental paradigms used in the literature. We then show how the computational motor learning perspective provides a unifying theoretical framework for the field that can facilitate progress and motivate future research along clearer, hypothesis-driven lines. The survey identified diverse sensorimotor perturbations in MIS, which can be effectively categorized according to our proposed taxonomy. Studies investigating monitor-, camera-, and tool-based perturbations were systematically analyzed, elucidating their impact on surgical performance. We also show how the computational motor learning perspective provides deeper insights and potential strategies to mitigate challenges. Sensorimotor challenges significantly impact MIS, necessitating a systematic, empirically informed approach. Our proposed taxonomy and theoretical framework shed light on the complexities involved, paving the way for more structured research and targeted training approaches to enhance surgical proficiency. Understanding the sensorimotor challenges inherent to MIS can guide the design of improved training curricula and inform the configuration of setups in the operating room to enhance surgeon performance and ultimately patient outcomes. This review offers key insights for surgeons, educators, and researchers in surgical performance and technology development.

Relationship Between Childhood Sensory Processing Differences and Quality of Life as Adults.

Research suggests a relationship between sensory processing, motor skills and quality of life (QOL) in a variety of clinical populations of adults and children. There have been no studies which investigated the relationship of childhood sensory processing and integration and related motor performance (sensori-motor) patterns identified using an Ayres Sensory Integration® (ASI) frame of reference and later QOL of those children as adults. This longitudinal follow-up study examined this relationship. Adult QOL was also examined in relation to current adult sensori-motor patterns. Fifty-three adults who received occupational therapy services as children, were identified as having sensori-motor difficulties at that time and completed a sensory history and a quality-of-life measure as adults participated. Measures included the OTA the Koomar Center Sensory History (SXHX), Adult/Adolescent Sensory History (ASH), and the World Health Organization Quality of Life-Brief (WHOQOL-BREF). MANCOVA found that Total childhood sensori-motor scores had a small relationship to Physical Health QOL as adults that approached significance. Pearson Correlations found that adults with childhood sensori-motor challenges who report sensori-motor challenges as adults had a moderate significant relationship among overall sensori-motor functioning and Physical Health (r = −0.56, p = 0.018). Visual (r = −0.76, p = 0.001), movement (vestibular; r = −0.48, p = 0.042) and tactile processing (r = −0.63, p = 0.008) had moderate to large significant relationships with Physical Health. Visual processing (r = −0.54, p = 0.024) was also significantly related to Psychological Health. Motor Coordination trended to significance for Physical Health (r = −0.42) and Psychological Health (r = −0.41). Conversely, adults who reported typical sensori-motor scores as adults, despite childhood sensori-motor challenges, had a good QOL. Furthermore, similar to previous research, there was a relationship between current visual, movement (vestibular) and tactile (touch) sensory processing and adult Physical and Psychological Health. A multivariate linear regression found Sensory Discrimination and Modulation accounted for one-quarter of the variance in QOL in adults with only Discrimination being statistically significant. Therefore, it is important to consider childhood sensori-motor function as well as adult functioning when examining QOL. Further, heretofore unexamined Sensory Discrimination was found to play a role in adult QOL.

Perception at the extreme: Adaptive vocal-motor behavior of bats at high speed flight and in groups

In order to successfully navigate through their environments without collisions at often high speeds, bats rely on two things: successful reconstruction of their environment from returning echoes and motor outputs in response to intermittent sensory information. This depends on the coordination between sensory input and locomotive output. Many bats regularly form dense aggregations in the wild and fly at speeds exceeding 100 km/h, likely posing significant sensorimotor challenges. We recorded the echolocation and flight behavior of wild frequency-modulated (FM) bats as they exited and returned to their cave roost to understand how bats coordinate flight and echolocation when faced with sensory challenges. We found that when exiting the roost in groups, many bats coordinate flight behavior and wingbeat movement with nearby conspecifics, but based on heading delays, this coordination is likely not driven by acoustic cues and instead may be guided by aerodynamic cues. During high-speed roost re-entry, bats modify echolocation signals consistent with increasing object discrimination as they approach the roost, yet adjustments in flight behavior do not coincide with the reception of echoes, suggesting that bats may be combining information from multiple pulses or senses to plan their flight path. [Work supported by ONR N000141612478 and NSF-IIBR-1916850.]

Corticomuscular Adaptations in the SingleLeg Jump Task in Response to Progressive Mechanical Perturbation Training in Individuals With Anterior Cruciate Ligament Deficiency

Introduction: Studies have repeatedly discussed the importance of training with sufficient cognitive and sensory-motor challenges in successfully transferring Anterior Cruciate Ligament Deficiencies (ACLDs) from rehabilitation centers to sports facilities. For this purpose, this study investigated the effect of mechanical perturbation training and standard training on the brain and muscle activity of these individuals while jumping on one leg. Materials and Methods: A total of 30 athletes with unilateral Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL) rupture (in the coper classification) were randomly assigned to perturbation and standard training groups. To compare the effect of two types of intervention training methods, we examined the Similarity Index (SI) and Voluntary Response Index (VRI) in surface Electromyography (sEMG) tests of eight muscles in the lower extremities and relative power of alpha and beta spectra in Quantitative Electroencephalographic (QEEG) tests between two groups and between two limbs of each group members in the single-leg jump task. Results: Both training groups showed improved neuromuscular control and increased SI on sEMG tests between the two limbs. However, this improvement in the perturbation training group showed an excellent increase in Effect Size (ES) (intra-group comparison values of SI for perturbation training group P=0.0001, ES=3.6; and P=0.008, ES=1.24 in the standard training group; and P=0.04, ES=0.87 in the inter-group comparison). Regarding the post-test of QEEG tests, no significant difference was found between the two groups (alpha P-value: 0.13, beta P-value: 0.07). However, in the intra-group comparison, the perturbation training group achieved excellent symmetry for the relative power spectrum of alpha and beta signals (the similarity values between the two limbs in the perturbation training group for alpha were P=0.92, ES=0.04 and for beta were P=0.92, ES=0.02; and these values for standard training group for alpha were P=0.07, ES=0.86 and for beta as P=0.08, ES=0.87). Conclusion: The present study results showed that mechanical perturbation and standard training are suitable for transporting ACLDs to sports environments. Furthermore, in comparing these two training methods, mechanical perturbation training in the manner used in this study has higher adequacy to eliminate motor control and central nervous system defects.

Different as night and day: wild bats modify echolocation in complex environments when visual cues are present

Many animals rely on the integration of senses to interact with their environment. While most studies on multisensory integration focus on animals that use passive sensing, fewer studies have investigated actively sensing animals, such as animals that use echolocation. Prior work has demonstrated that bats and dolphins have the ability to perceive objects through both echolocation and vision and may integrate information across senses to improve target identification. Less is known, however, about how these animals might modify their active sensing systems when additional sensory input, such as visual cues, is available. In this study, we examine how Brazilian free-tailed bats, Tadarida brasiliensis, in the wild use their echolocation calls during night compared to day under two different sensory challenges: ground detection in an open field and roost localization in a complex and cluttered environment at a cave edge. Both location and light condition had a significant effect on call frequency and call duration. Echolocation calls had shorter durations and wider bandwidths during night compared to day, and this effect was more pronounced during roost localization at the complex cave edge. These results suggest that bats may use vision to supplement echolocation, but modifications to their sensing systems may depend on environmental complexity and/or sensorimotor challenges.

Echolocation while drinking: Pulse-timing strategies by high- and low-frequency FM bats.

During nightly foraging activity, echolocating bats drink by flying low over the water surface and dipping the lower jaw while avoiding further bodily contact with the water. This task poses different sensorimotor challenges than flying in the open to forage for insects. Of interest is how bats adjust the timing of their echolocation pulses to accommodate the surrounding scene, from the progressively nearer water surface itself to objects at longer distances. Drinking behavior has been described in only a few of the roughly 1,000 echolocating bat species, and in none of the 110 species in the Indian subcontinent. Here, we describe how bats emitting frequency-modulated (FM) echolocation pulses behaved while drinking from a swimming pool in urban northeast India. At least two different bat species were present, using 1st-harmonic frequencies sweeping down to about 35 Hz ("low frequency") and down to about 50 kHz ("high frequency"), separable at a 40 kHz boundary. Over entire drinking maneuvers, intervals between broadcast pulses accommodate both the proximate task of registering the water surface while drinking and registering echoes from the farther reaches of the scene. During approach to the water, both low and high frequency bats emit longer, more stable interpulse intervals that matched the time interval covering echo arrival-times out to the frequency-dependent maximum operating range. High frequency bats use shorter interpulse intervals than low frequency bats, consistent with the shorter operating range at higher frequencies. Bats then accelerate their pulse rate to guide the dive down to drinking, with low frequency bats continuing to decrease pulse intervals and high frequency bats maintaining a more steady interval during the drinking buzz. The circumstance that both groups were engaged in the same task made this a natural experiment on the behavior during approach.

Efficacy of Stochastic Vestibular Stimulation to Improve Locomotor Performance During Adaptation to Visuomotor and Somatosensory Distortion.

Astronauts exposed to microgravity face sensorimotor challenges affecting balance control when readapting to Earth's gravity upon return from spaceflight. Small amounts of electrical noise applied to the vestibular system have been shown to improve balance control during standing and walking under discordant sensory conditions in healthy subjects, likely by enhancing information transfer through the phenomenon of stochastic resonance. The purpose of this study was to test the hypothesis that imperceptible levels of stochastic vestibular stimulation (SVS) could improve short-term adaptation to a locomotor task in a novel sensory discordant environment. Healthy subjects (14 males, 10 females, age = 28.7 ± 5.3 years, height = 167.2 ± 9.6 cm, weight = 71.0 ± 12.8 kg) were tested for perceptual thresholds to sinusoidal currents applied across the mastoids. Subjects were then randomly and blindly assigned to an SVS group receiving a 0–30 Hz Gaussian white noise electrical stimulus at 50% of their perceptual threshold (stim) or a control group receiving zero stimulation during Functional Mobility Tests (FMTs), nine trials of which were done under conditions of visual discordance (wearing up/down vision reversing goggles). Time to complete the course (TCC) was used to test the effect of SVS between the two groups across the trials. Adaptation rates from the normalized TCCs were also compared utilizing exponent values of power fit trendline equations. A one-tailed independent-samples t-test indicated these adaptation rates were significantly faster in the stim group (n = 12) than the control (n = 12) group [t(16.18) = 2.00, p = 0.031]. When a secondary analysis was performed comparing “responders” (subjects who showed faster adaptation rates) of the stim (n = 7) group to the control group (n = 12), independent-samples t-tests revealed significantly faster trial times for the last five trials with goggles in the stim group “responders” than the controls. The data suggests that SVS may be capable of improving short-term adaptation to a locomotion task done under sensory discordance in a group of responsive subjects.

Enhancing astronaut performance using sensorimotor adaptability training.

Astronauts experience disturbances in balance and gait function when they return to Earth. The highly plastic human brain enables individuals to modify their behavior to match the prevailing environment. Subjects participating in specially designed variable sensory challenge training programs can enhance their ability to rapidly adapt to novel sensory situations. This is useful in our application because we aim to train astronauts to rapidly formulate effective strategies to cope with the balance and locomotor challenges associated with new gravitational environments—enhancing their ability to “learn to learn.” We do this by coupling various combinations of sensorimotor challenges with treadmill walking. A unique training system has been developed that is comprised of a treadmill mounted on a motion base to produce movement of the support surface during walking. This system provides challenges to gait stability. Additional sensory variation and challenge are imposed with a virtual visual scene that presents subjects with various combinations of discordant visual information during treadmill walking. This experience allows them to practice resolving challenging and conflicting novel sensory information to improve their ability to adapt rapidly. Information obtained from this work will inform the design of the next generation of sensorimotor countermeasures for astronauts.

Commentary on: An exploration of sensory and movement differences from the perspective of individuals with autism

“An exploration of sensory and movement differences from the perspective of individuals with autism” by Robledo, Donnellan, and Strandt-Conroy, was originally published in Autism: The Movement Perspective as part of a Research Topic in Frontiers in Integrated Neuroscience (2012–2014). It gained a special place in the Topic, as in the general field of research in autism, by being one of the few studies to systematically study autism from the perspective of those with that lived experience. This paucity is all the more remarkable as there are at least 100,000 research studies published on the topic of autism in the past few decades (Robertson, 2010). It's hard not to argue that the perspective of autistic people themselves has been given too little attention by the research community although, fortunately, there are a growing number of self-accounts that have helped to shed light on that perspective over the last 25 years adding immensely to our understanding (e.g., Grandin, 1995; Williams, 1998; Mukhopadhyay, 2000). Nonetheless, this paper by Robledo, Donnellan, and Strandt-Conroy occupies a unique position having called upon multiple rigorous social science research methodologies to study in-depth the presence and potential impact of “movement differences” in autism. They define movement differences as a difference, interference or shift in the efficient, effective utilization, and integration of movement; a disruption in the organization and regulation of perception, action, posture, language, speech, thought, emotion, and/or memory (Leary et al., 1999) which broadens and extends the notions of sensory-motor challenges which have drawn some attention from researchers in recent times (e.g., DSM-5). Using interviews, some in person and some with specialized accommodations for the individual, questionnaires and participant-produced data they present us with revealing and often poignant insights into what has often been defined in social terms as “inappropriate behavior.” So Barbara, who has difficulty processing two senses at once chooses to turn her head to limit the visual input and is blamed for this accommodation. This research is an important step beyond the many thousands of studies in the canon showing what autistic people fail to do, or do wrong and little about how they attempt to accommodate to their movement challenges. The editors of Frontiers and, in particular, the Special Research Issue Autism: The Movement Perspective, were proud to present the 40 papers in that issue, many on topics which do not generally get wide attention. We are particularly proud of this paper that has earned the opportunity to receive even broader readership in a Tier 2 publication.

Study I: Effects of 0.06% and 0.10% blood alcohol concentration on human postural control

Alcohol intoxication causes many accidental falls presented at emergency departments, with the injury severity often related to level of blood alcohol concentration (BAC). One way to evaluate the decline in postural control and the fall risk is to assess standing stability when challenged. The study objective was to comprehensively investigate alcohol-related impairments on postural control and adaptive motor learning at specific BAC levels.Effects of alcohol intoxication at 0.06% and 0.10% BAC were examined with posturography when unperturbed or perturbed by calf vibration. Twenty-five participants (mean age 25.1years) were investigated standing with either eyes open or closed.Our results revealed several significant findings: (1) stability declined much faster from alcohol intoxication between 0.06% and 0.10% BAC (60–140%) compared with between 0.0% and 0.06% BAC (30%); (2) sustained exposure to repeated balance perturbations augmented the alcohol-related destabilization; (3) there were stronger effects of alcohol intoxication on stability in lateral direction than in anteroposterior direction; and (4) there was a gradual degradation of postural control particularly in lateral direction when the balance perturbations were repeated at 0.06% and 0.10% BAC, indicating adaptation deficits when intoxicated.To summarize, alcohol has profound deteriorating effects on human postural control, which are dose dependent, time dependent and direction specific. The maximal effects of alcohol intoxication on physiological performance might not be evident initially, but may be revealed first when under sustained sensory-motor challenges.