• The Journal of Korean Physical Therapy
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• v.22 no.5
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• pp.109-115
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• 2010

Purpose: This study was to delineate the structural change of neural pathway after sequential motor learning using diffusion tensor imaging (DTI). Methods: The participants were 16 healthy subjects, which were divided by training (n=8) and control (n=8) group. The task for the training was the Serial Reaction Time Task (SRTT) which was designed by Superlab program. When the 'asterisk' shows up in the 4 partition spaces on the monitor, the subject presses the correct response button as soon as possible. The training group participated in the training program of motor learning with SRTT composed of 24 digits pattern in one hour per daily through 10 days during 2 weeks. Results: In the behavioral results the training group showed significant changes in the increase of response number and the reduction of response time than those of the control group. There was significant difference in the left inferior frontal area in the fractional anisotropy (FA) map of the training group in DTI analysis. Conclusion: Motor sequential learning as like SRTT may be needed to the learning of language and visuospatial processing and may be induced for the experience-dependent structural plasticity during short period.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Physical Medicine
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• v.5 no.3
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• pp.395-404
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• 2010

Purpose : The object of this study was to examine the effect of motor learning on brain activation depending on the method of motor learning. Methods : The brain activation was measured in 9 men by fMRI. The subjects were divided into the following groups depending on the method of motor learning: actually practice (AP, n=3) group, action observation (AO, n=3) group and motor imagery (MI, n=3) group. In order to examine the effect of motor learning depending on the method of motor learning, the brain activation data were measured during learning. For the investigation of brain activation, fMRI was conducted. Results : The results of brain activation measured before and during learning were as follows; (1) During learning, the AP group showed the activation in the following areas: primary motor area located in precentral gyrus, somatosensory area located in postcentral gyrus, supplemental motor area and prefrontal association area located in precentral gyrus, middle frontal gyrus and superior frontal gyrus, speech area located in superior temporal gyrus and middle temporal gyrus, Broca's area located in inferior parietal lobe and somatosensory association area of precuneus; (2) During learning, the AD groups showed the activation in the following areas: primary motor area located in precentral gyrus, prefrontal association area located in middle frontal gyrus and superior frontal gyrus, speech area and supplemental motor area located in superior temporal gyrus and middle temporal gyrus, Broca's area located in inferior parietal lobe, somatosensory area and primary motor area located in precentral gyrus of right cerebrum and left cerebrum, and somatosensory association area located in precuneus; and (3) During learning, the MI group showed activation in the following areas: speech area located in superior temporal gyrus, supplemental area, and somatosensory association area located in precuneus. Conclusion : Given the results above, in this study, the action observation was suggested as an alternative to motor learning through actual practice in serial reaction time task of motor learning. It showed the similar results to the actual practice in brain activation which were obtained using activation of mirror neuron. This result suggests that the brain activation occurred by the activation of mirror neuron, which was observed during action observation. The mirror neurons are located in primary motor area, somatosensory area, premotor area, supplemental motor area and somatosensory association area. In sum, when we plan a training program through physiotherapy to increase the effect during reeducation of movement, the action observation as well as best resting is necessary in increasing the effect of motor learning with the patients who cannot be engaged in actual practice.

• The Journal of Korean Physical Therapy
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.234-239
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• 2014

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to use P300 latency to determine whether methods of motor learning in terms of massed and distributed practice can affect motor sequential learning in healthy adults. Methods: Twenty-four healthy subjects participated in this study. They were randomly allocated into three groups: a 10 minute, a 12 hour, and a 24 hour group. In the SRT task, eight numbers were adopted as auditory stimuli. During an experiment, participants were instructed to press the matching key as quickly and accurately as possible when one of the eight numbers was presented randomly. The subjects practiced for three sessions, each of which comprised five blocks of 40 serial reaction time tasks. While they practiced during these three sessions, P300 latency was measured. The data were analyzed using ANCOVA. Results: The P300 latency of Fz, Cz, and Pz decreased in all groups except for the Fz area of the 10 min group. Overall, the P300 latency of the 10 min group showed a smaller decrease compared with the 12 hr and 24 hr groups. Statistically, no significant differences in the Fz and Cz areas were observed among the three groups. The P300 latency in the Pz area of the 10 min group showed a significantly smaller decrease compared with the other groups. Conclusion: These findings suggest that short-term sequential motor training can alter brain functions such as the P300 latency. We also found that better acquisition of a motor skill was obtained with distributed practice of a task than with massed practice.

• Science of Emotion and Sensibility
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.137-148
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• 2017

The present study examined the effect of stimulus contrast and color on detection of a target embedded in streams of letters. In Experiment 1, each trial displayed four rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP) streams of letters (i.e., multi-RSVP), and each stream occupied one of four different locations. Each frame in the RSVP stream had four white distractors at the locations except one frame where a dim grey target was displayed at a location with three white distractors at the remaining locations. In the low-visibility target condition, the target's grey color was slightly darker than the background grey whereas much dimmer in the high-visibility condition. Participants were asked to report presence of a predesignated target as quickly and accurately as possible upon its detection in each trial, and their target detection turned out more accurate and quicker in the high-visibility than the low-visibility condition. In Experiment 2, the same RSVP displays and task as Experiment were used, but the grey target letters in the high-visibility condition were replaced with those of distinct chromatic colors. Participants detected target presence more accurately in the high-visibility condition, but the reaction time did not differ between the visibility conditions. The results indicate that higher stimulus contrast as well as distinct color can improve perception of a target stimulus displayed among visually-demanding background, but also suggest that stimulus contrast may play a more substantial role for such perceptual improvement.