• The Journal of Korean Physical Therapy
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• v.24 no.6
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• pp.405-408
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• 2012

Purpose: We examined the effect of dual-task and single-task training on serial reaction time (SRT) task performance to determine whether SRT is based more on motor or perception in a dual-task. Methods: Forty healthy adults were divided into two groups: the dual-task group (mean age, $21.8{\pm}1.6$ years) and the single-task group (mean age, $21.7{\pm}1.6$ years). SRT task was conducted total 480 trial. The four figures were presented randomly 16 times. A unit was set as 1 block that would repeat 10 times. Thus, there were a total of 160 trials for each of the three color conditions. The dual-task group performed an SRT task while detecting the color of a specific shape. The end of the task, subjects answered the specific shape number; the single-task group only performed the SRT task. The study consisted of three parts: pre-measurement, task performance, and post-measurement. Results: Differences of pre and post reaction time between two group was higher for the dual-task group as compared to the single task group and there was a significant interaction between time and group (p<0.05). Conclusion: Our results indicate that. short term period SRT is not quiet effective under dual-task conditions, individuals need additional cognitive processes to successfully navigate a task This suggests that dual-task training might not be appropriate for motor learning enhancement, at least when the training is over a short period.

• The Journal of Korean Physical Therapy
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.81-87
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• 2009

Purpose: Human brain was lateralized to dominant or non-dominant hemisphere, and could be reorganized by the processing of the motor learning. We reported four cases which showed the changes of the cortical activation patterns resulting from two weeks of training with the serial reaction time task. Methods: Four right-handed healthy subjects were recruited, who was equally divided to two training conditions (right hand training or left hand training). They were assigned to train the serial reaction time task for two weeks, which should press the corresponding four colored buttons as fast as accurately as possible when visual stimulus was presented. Before and after two weeks of training, reaction time and function magnetic resonance image (fMRI) was acquired during the performance of the same serial reaction time task as the training. Results: The reaction time was significantly decreased in all of subjects after training. Our fMRI result showed that widespread bilateral activation at the pre scanning was shifted toward the focused activation on the contralateral hemisphere with progressive motor learning. However, the bilateral activation was still remained during the performance of the non-dominant hand. Conclusion: These findings showed that the repetitive practice of the serial reaction time task led to increase the movement speed and accuracy, as described by motor learning. Such motor learning induced to change the cortical activation pattern. And, the changed pattern of the cortical activation resulting from motor learning was different each other in accordance with the hand dominance.

• The Journal of Korean Physical Therapy
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• v.22 no.5
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• pp.103-108
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• 2010

Purpose: The aim of this study is to investigate whether motor cortex excitability by transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) over primary motor cortex (M1) affects motor performance of serial reaction task. Methods: Cathodal, anodal and sham tDCS (1 mA) are applied over right M1 of 24 subjects for 30 minutes including 11minutes for task period time. We applied two electrodes at the same position to both an experimental group and a sham-controlled group, and we made 2 groups recognize to be applicated of stimulation. Flexion, extension of wrist and thumb flexion are carried out following colors of arrows on the monitor. Serial reaction time task was applied to confirm the difference of the reaction time between 2 groups. Results: Reaction time is decreased in both tDCS-group and Sham-controlled tDCS group, and the degree of reduction is much greater in the post-test than pre-test. Reduction of reaction time between groupsis statistically significant. Conclusion: We consider that anodal tDCS increased the cortical excitability of the underlying motor cortex and it can be helpful to modulate motor performance. It seems that tDCS is an effective modality to modulate brain function, and it will be great help to mediate strategy for the brain injury patients.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Physical Medicine
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.281-287
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• 2013

PURPOSE: The study was designed to investigate the effects of visual, auditory, and visuoauditory cues on simple Serial Task Performance in heaithy adults. METHODS: Sixty-three right-handed heaithy adults without history of neurological dysfunction were participated. A modified version of the Serial Reaction Time Task (SRTT) using five blocks of perceptual motor sequences was administered. The blocked paradigm consisted of the five blocks with randomly repeated 8 digit sequences with 5 repetition. Three types of sensory cue were employed: visual cue, auditory cue and visuoauditory cue. All subjects were assigned to press the matched botton as quickly and accurately as possible, when one of 8 stimulations was presented(one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight). The reaction time, accuracy, and P300 latency were measured during serial task performance. The mean reaction time(ms), accuracy(%), and P300 latency(ms) were compared between three types of cue using ANOVA. RESULTS: The reaction time to auditory cue was significantly longer than visual and visuoauditory cues(p<.001). And accuracy to auditory cue was significantly lower than visual and visuoauditory cues(p<.001). All P300 latency(at Fz, Cz, Pz) were significantly longer than to visual and visuoauditory cues(p<.05). CONCLUSION: It is suggested that type of cues influence in choice reaction. These data may helpful in designing not only effective motor learning training programs for healthy persons but also reeducation programs for patients with neurological dysfunction.

• The Journal of Korean Physical Therapy
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.65-71
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• 2009

Purpose: Numerous investigators demonstrated that adaptative changes were induced by motor skill acquisition in the central nervous system. We investigated the changes of neuroelectric potential following motor learning with serial reaction time task in young healthy subjects, using electroencephalography (EEG). Methods: Twelve right-handed normal volunteers were recruited, who have no history of neurological dysfunction and were given to written the informed consent. All subjects were assigned to flex to extend the wrist joint or flex the thumb for pressing the matched button as quickly and accurately as possible, when one of five colored lights was displayed on computer screen (red, yellow, green, blue, white). EEG was measured, whenfive types simulations ware presented randomly with equal probabilities of 20% in total 200 times at the pre and post test. And they were scheduled for 30 minutes practice session during two consecutive days in the laboratory. Results: The results showed that the reaction time at the post test was significantly reduced, compared to one of the pre test in serial reaction time task. In EEG map analysis, the broaden bilateral activation tended to be changed to the focused contralateral activation in the frontoparietal area. Conclusion: These findings showed that acquisition of motor skill led to product more fast motor execution, and that motor learning could change cortical activation pattern, from the broaden bilateral activation to the focused contralateral activation. Thus we concluded that the adaptative change was induced by motor learning in healthy subjects.

• The Journal of Korean Physical Therapy
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.191-195
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• 2014

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to investigate whether types of sensory-stimuli cues in terms of visual, auditory, and visuoauditory cues can be affected to motor sequential learning in healthy adults, using serial reaction time task. Methods: Twenty four healthy subjects participated in this study, who were randomly allocated into three groups, in terms of visual-stimuli (VS) group, auditory-stimuli (AS) group, and visuoauditory-stimuli (VAS) group. In SRT task, eight Arabic numbers were adopted as presentational stimulus, which were composed of three different types of presentational modules, in terms of visual, auditory, and visuoauditory stimuli. On an experiment, all subjects performed total 3 sessions relevant to each stimulus module with a pause of 10 minutes for training and pre-/post-tests. At the pre- and post-tests, reaction time and accuracy were calculated. Results: In reaction time, significant differences were founded in terms of between-subjects, within-subjects, and interaction effect for group ${\times}$ repeated factor. In accuracy, no significant differences were observed in between-group and interaction effect for groups ${\times}$ repeated factor. However, a significant main effect of within-subjects was observed. In addition, a significant difference was showed in comparison of differences of changes between the pre- and post-test only in the reaction time among three groups. Conclusion: This study suggest that short-term sequential motor training on one day induced behavioral modification, such as speed and accuracy of motor response. In addition, we found that motor training using visual-stimuli cue showed better effect of motor skill acquisition, compared to auditory and visuoauditory-stimuli cues.

• Physical Therapy Korea
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.1-8
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• 2004

Motor skill learning can be acquired implicitly without consciousness of what is being learned. The purpose of this study was to examine the characteristics of implicit motor learning in young and elderly people using a perceptual-motor task. Forty normal young and elderly subjects participated. A modified version of the Serial Reaction Time Task (SRTT) using six blocks of twelve perceptual motor sequences was administered. The paradigm consisted of the first random sequence block followed by the four patterned blocks and another random block. In each block, the go signal consisted of an asterisk displayed in the one of the four parallel arrayed boxes in the middle of the screen. Subjects were instructed to push the corresponding response buttons as quickly as possible. Young subjects demonstrated shorter reaction times during the consecutive patterned blocks reflecting appropriate learning accomplished. Elderly subjects were able to learn a perceptual-motor task with implicit knowledge, but the performance was lower than that of the young persons. These results indicated that implicit sequence learning is still preserved in elderly adults, but the rate of learning is slower.

• The Journal of Korean Physical Therapy
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.7-13
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• 2010

Purpose: This study was designed to determine the correlation between faster response time and functional activities of brain regions during cognitive time management. Methods: Twelve healthy subjects participated in this experiment. Subjects performed the serial reaction time task (SRTT), which was designed by the Superlab program, during fMRI scanning. When the 'asterisk' appeared in the 4 partition spaces on the monitor, the subject had to press the correct response button as soon as possible. Results: fMRI results showed activation of the left primary sensorimotor cortex, both premotor areas, the supplementary motor area, posterior parietal cortex and cerebellum. There were significant correlations, from moderate to strong, between faster reaction time and BOLD signal intensity in activated areas. Conclusion: These results suggest that motor skill learning to be needed cognitive time management is associated with greater activation of large scale sensorimotor networks.

• The Journal of Korean Physical Therapy
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.1-7
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• 2008

Purpose: Implicit motor learning is the capacity to acquire skill through physical practice without conscious awareness of what elements of performance improved. This study investigated whether subacute stroke patients can implicitly learn a perceptual-motor task. Methods: We recruited 12 patients with subacute stroke and 12 age-matched controls. All participants performed a perceptual-motor task that involved pressing a button corresponding with colored circles (blue, green, yellow, red) on a computer screen. The task consists of 7 blocks composed of 10 repetitions for a repeating 12-element sequence (total 120 responses). Results: Both groups demonstrated significant improvement in acquisition performance. Reaction times deceased in both groups at similar rate within the sequential block trials (2-5 blocks), and reaction times increased at a similar rate when the task paradigm was transferred from the sequential block trial to the random block trial (5-6-7 blocks). Conclusion: The results of this study suggest that patients with sub-actue stroke can implicitly learn a perceptual motor skill. Although explicit instructions should be used to focus the learner's attention rather than provide information about the task, the application of implicit motor learning strategies in the rehabilitation setting may be beneficial.

• Physical Therapy Korea
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.24-32
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• 2006

Theoretical framework of motor learning is used to enhance perceptual motor skill in physical therapy intervention, which can be subdivided into two main types-explicit and implicit. The purpose of this study was to examine whether stroke patients with unilateral brain damage learn implicitly a motor skill using the arm ipsilateral to the damaged hemisphere. Speculation then followed as to the formation of therapeutic plans and instructions provided to patients with stroke. 20 patients with stroke and 20 normal participants were recruited. All the subjects practiced serial reaction time tasks for 30 minutes a day and retention tests on the following day. The tasks and tests involved pressing the corresponding buttons to 4 colored circles presented on a computer screen as quickly and accurately as possible. Patients with stroke responded more slowly than controls. However, both groups showed decreased reaction time in the experimental and retention periods. Also, there was no significant difference between both groups regarding explicit knowledge of consecutive order. Therefore, patients with stoke had the ability to learn implicitly a perceptual motor skill. Prescriptive instruction using implicit and explicit feedback may be beneficial for motor skill learning in physical therapy intervention for patients with brain damage.