Retraining Reaching in Cerebellar Ataxia
Cerebellar Ataxia
About this trial
This is an interventional treatment trial for Cerebellar Ataxia focused on measuring Cerebellar Ataxia
Eligibility Criteria
Inclusion Criteria:
- Cerebellar damage from stroke, tumor or degeneration
- Age 22-80
Exclusion Criteria:
- Clinical or MRI evidence of damage to extracerebellar brain (e.g. multiple system atrophy)
- Extrapyramidal symptoms, peripheral vestibular loss, or sensory neuropathy
- Dementia ( Mini-Mental State exam > 22)
- Pain that interferes with the tasks
- Vision loss that interferes with the tasks
Sites / Locations
- Motion Analysis Lab in the Kennedy Krieger InstituteRecruiting
Arms of the Study
Arm 1
Arm 2
Experimental
Experimental
Reinforcement Training
Standard Practice Training
Reach training with visual feedback. During each training session, participants will first be familiarized with the task and then will reach from a home position to 4 virtual targets that are presented in the front of the participant and within the workspace where most natural arm movements are performed. During training the participant will reach a total of 400 times. For reinforcement training, participants will not see their hand or a cursor, but instead participants will receive target-specific binary feedback after each reach (i.e. based on running average of last 10 reaches to that target). Binary feedback indicates only whether the reach was successful or unsuccessful and provides no specific information about the location of the hand.
Reach training with visual feedback. During each training session, participants will first be familiarized with the task and then will reach from a home position to 4 virtual targets that are presented in the front of the participant and within the workspace where most natural arm movements are performed. During training the participant will reach a total of 400 times. For standard practice, participants will be able to see a cursor that represents the position of the hand at all times and try to make straight reaches to the targets. This type of feedback provided specific information about the location of the hand.