View clinical trials related to Perceptual Disorders.
Filter by:Brain functions are supported by multiple cell types, including neuronal and non-neuronal cells that are connected into complex networks. When the connectivity between those cells is altered or disrupted, the functioning of the brain is impaired. In stroke, the interruption of blood supply to the neural circuits results in connectivity damage and permanent disabilities. Experimental evidence suggests that some types of brain state, including sleep, can protect brain tissue from stroke and "repair" the damaged circuits. This project will investigate the neuronal mechanism underlying the protective effect of sleep on brain connectivity and network activity. To this end, the investigators will use a collection of state-of-the-art technologies including high-density electroencephalography (hd-EEG), transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) and transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS). Perspectives include a better understanding of the causes and consequences of the perturbed electrical activity of the brain during sleep in stroke patients.
The presented study investigates standardized visual cueing in reading and visual spatial task as a treatment method for spatial neglect. In a randomized controlled design patients receive either cued reading and visual spatial tasks (intervention) or treatment which is unspecific to neglect (control). In the intervention condition, patients with left-sided neglect receive intense training, including reading and visual spatial task with standardized and adapted visual cueing by the therapist. Improvements in reading and visual spatial tasks lead to a reduction of cues by the therapist. Accordingly, the patient has to apply self-cueing over time in order to solve the task. For the control condition, all patients receive unspecific treatment without any standardized adapted cueing implemented by the therapist. To enhance the effectivity of cueing in reading and visual spatial tasks, the investigators additionally conduct parietal transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) in those patients without tDCS exclusion criteria (see exclusion criteria below). It is hypothesised that systematic and adaptive therapeutic cueing leads to a significant reduction of omissions of word and word parts in reading. UPDATE: No Add-on tDCS was performed since it was not applicable for our severly impaired patients due to the strict exclusion criteria of tDCS.
The purpose of this study is to examine measurement of unilateral neglect post stroke. Although a number of clinical assessments are used to measure neglect, it is unclear whether items from some of the most commonly used assessments are able to effectively and comprehensively measure neglect. This study will determine whether these assessments measure different aspects of neglect and whether items from various neglect assessments can be combined to more effectively measure neglect.
Investigators hypothesize, based on anecdotal evidence to date, that active music making interventions conducted on a patient's neglected side will result in improved attention to that side and that this will be measurable within session.
This project is designed to test a lightweight, portable, computerized pair of glasses that will help reduce some of the cognitive deficits seen in patients who have suffered damage to their right cerebral hemisphere.
Purpose: A research project will be conducted at the ADD ("Attention Deficit Disorder") Centre and Biofeedback Institute of Toronto to evaluate the feasibility of the Listening Project Protocol (LPP) intervention in individuals with difficulties with autonomic and/or behavioral regulation. The LPP is designed as a "neural exercise" to reduce auditory hypersensitivities, to improve auditory processing of speech, and to improve behavioral state regulation. These improvements should translate into increase feelings of safety and calmness, thereby promoting improvement in social behavior. Participants: 30 participants, males and females between ages 7-55 years, will be recruited for the study. Participants will be patients at the ADD Centre and Biofeedback Institute of Toronto. Procedures: Participants will be divided into 1 of 2 groups (1:1 ratio). Both groups will have a pre-intervention assessment #2, intervention, 1 week post intervention assessment and 1 month post intervention assessment. Group 2 will have an additional pre-intervention assessment session #1 (1 week previous to pre-intervention assessment #2) to assess the stability of the measures prior to starting the intervention. Pre-, post-, and 1 month followup assessment will include parent and/or self-report questionnaires, and measures of the individual's auditory processing ("SCAN"), affect recognition ("DARE" Dynamic Affect Recognition Evaluation), heart rate, prosody, "RSA" respiratory sinus arrhythmia (derived from non-invasive ECG recording), and middle ear transfer function ("MESAS" - Middle Ear Sound Absorption System).
Spatial neglect is a common attention disorder after right hemisphere stroke and is associated with decreased independence and quality of life. Despite its high prevalence in the stroke population, there is currently no standard of care for the treatment of neglect. Prism adaptation (PA) is a promising rehabilitation technique, however incorporation into clinical care has been limited likely due to the lack of standardized procedures. The investigators have developed a computerized PA technique designed to better engage patients and assist clinicians. In this study the investigators aim to evaluate the feasibility and effectiveness of the computerized PA procedure in a typical health care setting, with the hypothesis that the PA procedure will improve patient's neglect symptoms.
Purpose: Stroke is a common cause of death and disability in Canada. Injury to the right hemisphere of the brain and the parietal cortex in particular, is common and results in a disorder known as 'neglect' in 40% to 95% of patients. These patients fail to attend to or respond to events occurring in left space; the disorder is devastating for the patient and their caregivers with the patient becoming dependent on assistance for most activities of daily life (ADLs). The project will implement two visual working memory (VWM) training programs to explore the influence of VWM training on neglect symptoms as well as activities of daily life. Hypothesis: It is hypothesised that SWM training protocols will lead to improvements of neglect symptoms as well as improvement in ADLs. The project will develop a novel rehabilitation strategy for treating the neglect syndrome. Evidence from research in healthy participants employing video games to improve cognition along with research using working memory training protocols showing a broad range of benefits accruing to both trained and untrained tasks, suggests that the investigators approach has great potential to improve the core deficits of the neglect syndrome. Thus, WM training represents a promising avenue for rehabilitating neglect patients who demonstrate core deficits in both spatial attention and VWM to be highly interrelated functions.
Attention can be defined as the preparedness to rapidly and accurately respond to stimuli coming from the investigators environment and to effectively select between relevant and irrelevant information. According to a current model, visual attentional control is based on two separate groups of brain regions, so called brain networks. These networks control different attentional aspects (e.g., spatial/non-spatial attention) and they interact with each other. A disruption of these interactions can lead to attentional disorders such as hemispatial neglect. Patients with hemispatial neglect have difficulties directing their attention to the left visual field and they act as though the latter does not exist. To date, the interactions between the two attentional networks are poorly understood. The aim of this study consists in further clarifying different aspects of these interactions and their influence on visual perception in healthy participants and in patients with hemispatial neglect. Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) will be the principal method applied in this study. TMS is a painless and non-invasive method, with which the activity of brain areas can be influenced temporarily. This allows us to draw conclusions regarding the functions and interactions of these brain areas. This study is designed to have a significant impact on the basic understanding of attentional control in the human brain and it can benefit the comprehension and treatment of attentional disorders, such as hemispatial neglect.
A research project funded by the Reiss-Davis Child Study Center of Vista Del Mar (RDCSC/VDM) will be conducted on the Vista Del Mar campus of the RDCSC/VDM to evaluate the effectiveness of the Listening Project Protocol (LPP) in children who have difficulties with autonomic and behavior regulation in the classroom. The LPP is designed as a "neural exercise" to reduce auditory hypersensitivities, to improve auditory processing of speech, and to improve behavioral state regulation. The LPP uses acoustic stimulation to exercise the neural regulation of the middle ear structures to rehabilitate and to normalize the acoustic transfer function of the middle ear structures. The current study is being conducted to evaluate efficacy and feasibility of the LPP with emotionally disturbed and learning challenged young people and will use objective measures to evaluate changes in acoustic transfer function of the middle ears structures, auditory processing skills, physiological state regulation, sensory symptoms, and academic pre and post testing.