Evaluation of upper limb function with digitizing tablet-based tests: reliability and discriminative validity in healthy persons and patients with neurological disorders.

Purpose: To evaluate discriminative validity, relative reliability and absolute reliability of four tablet-based tests for the evaluation of upper limb motor function in healthy persons and patients with neurological disorders.

Methods: Cross-sectional study in 54 participants: 29 patients with upper limb movement impairment due to a neurological condition recruited from an inpatient rehabilitation centre and 25 healthy persons. Accuracy, speed and path length were analysed for four tablet-based tests: "Spiral drawings," "Tapping," "Follow the dot" and "Trace a star.

Concurrent validity and test-retest reliability of the Virtual Peg Insertion Test to quantify upper limb function in patients with chronic stroke.

Background: Measuring arm and hand function of the affected side is vital in stroke rehabilitation. Therefore, the Virtual Peg Insertion Test (VPIT), an assessment combining virtual reality and haptic feedback during a goal-oriented task derived from the Nine Hole Peg Test (NHPT), was developed. This study aimed to evaluate (1) the concurrent validity of key outcome measures of the VPIT, namely the execution time and the number of dropped pegs, with the NHPT and Box and Block Test (BBT), and (2) the test-retest-reliability of these parameters together with the VPIT's additional kinetic and kinematic parameters in patients with chronic stroke.

The Virtual Peg Insertion Test as an assessment of upper limb coordination in ARSACS patients: a pilot study.

Objective: This paper introduces a novel assessment tool to provide clinicians with quantitative and more objective measures of upper limb coordination in patients suffering from Autosomal Recessive Spastic Ataxia of Charlevoix-Saguenay (ARSACS). The Virtual Peg Insertion Test (VPIT) involves manipulating an instrumented handle in order to move nine pegs into nine holes displayed in a virtual environment. The main outcome measures were the number of zero-crossings of the hand acceleration vector, as a measure of movement coordination and the total time required to complete the insertion of the nine pegs, as a measure of overall upper limb performance.

Assessment of upper limb motor function in patients with multiple sclerosis using the Virtual Peg Insertion Test: a pilot study.

Quantifying and tracking upper limb impairment is of key importance to the understanding of disease progress, establishing patient-tailored therapy protocols and for optimal care provision. This paper presents the results of a pilot study on the assessment of upper limb motor function in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) with the Virtual Peg Insertion Test (VPIT). The test consists in a goal-directed reaching task using a commercial haptic display combined with an instrumented handle and virtual environment, and allows for the extraction of objective kinematic and dynamic parameters.

Effects of 2D/3D visual feedback and visuomotor collocation on motor performance in a Virtual Peg Insertion Test.

This paper evaluates the influence of three different types of visual feedback on the motor performance of healthy subjects during the repeated execution of a Virtual Peg Insertion Test developed for the assessment of sensorimotor function of arm and hand in neurologically impaired subjects. One test trial consists of the grasping and insertion of 9 pegs into 9 holes using a haptic display with instrumented grasping handle. Three groups performed 10 trials initially on three different setups (group 1 with standard 2D visual feedback, group 2 with 3D, and group 3 with collocated 3D visual feedback) followed by 10 more trials with the setup with 2D visual feedback.

Detection of motor execution using a hybrid fNIRS-biosignal BCI: a feasibility study.

Background: Brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) were recently recognized as a method to promote neuroplastic effects in motor rehabilitation. The core of a BCI is a decoding stage by which signals from the brain are classified into different brain-states. The goal of this paper was to test the feasibility of a single trial classifier to detect motor execution based on signals from cortical motor regions, measured by functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS), and the response of the autonomic nervous system.

Motor execution detection based on autonomic nervous system responses.

Triggered assistance has been shown to be a successful robotic strategy for provoking motor plasticity, probably because it requires neurologic patients' active participation to initiate a movement involving their impaired limb. Triggered assistance, however, requires sufficient residual motor control to activate the trigger and, thus, is not applicable to individuals with severe neurologic injuries. In these situations, brain and body-computer interfaces have emerged as promising solutions to control robotic devices.

Upper limb assessment using a Virtual Peg Insertion Test.

This paper presents the initial evaluation of a Virtual Peg Insertion Test developed to assess sensorimotor functions of arm and hand using an instrumented tool, virtual reality and haptic feedback. Nine performance parameters derived from kinematic and kinetic data were selected and compared between two groups of healthy subjects performing the task with the dominant and non-dominant hand, as well as with a group of chronic stroke subjects suffering from different levels of upper limb impairment. Results showed significantly smaller grasping forces applied by the stroke subjects compared to the healthy subjects.

Towards a BCI for sensorimotor training: initial results from simultaneous fNIRS and biosignal recordings.

This paper presents the concept and initial results of a novel approach for robot assisted sensorimotor training in stroke rehabilitation. It is based on a brain-body-robot interface (B(2)RI), combining both neural and physiological recordings, that detects the intention to perform a motor task. By directly including the injured brain into the therapy, we ultimately aim at providing a new method for severely impaired patients to engage in active movement therapy.

Context-specific grasp movement representation in macaque ventral premotor cortex.

Hand grasping requires the transformation of sensory signals to hand movements. Neurons in area F5 (ventral premotor cortex) represent specific grasp movements (e.g.

Context-specific grasp movement representation in the macaque anterior intraparietal area.

To perform grasping movements, the hand is shaped according to the form of the target object and the intended manipulation, which in turn depends on the context of the action. The anterior intraparietal cortex (AIP) is strongly involved in the sensorimotor transformation of grasping movements, but the extent to which it encodes context-specific information for hand grasping is unclear. To explore this issue, we recorded 571 single-units in AIP of two macaques during a delayed grasping task, in which animals were instructed by an external context cue (LED) to perform power or precision grips on a handle that was presented in various orientations.