Neuromotor Behavior Laboratory
Dr. Rachael Seidler
1200 D CCRB
401 Washtenaw Avenue
Ann Arbor, MI 48109-2214
Phone: (734) 764-8186
Research Overview
Research in the Neuromotor Behavior Laboratory focuses on motor control and skill learning. We study the neural and behavioral processes underlying skill acquisition. Our emphasis is on determining changes in brain structure-function relationships that occur with performance change caused by learning, external environmental changes, or internal system changes such as aging and disease. Research techniques include the use of functional and structural magnetic resonance imaging (conducted at the Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Center, North Campus) and quantitative motor assessments such as kinematic, kinetic, and electromyographic analyses. For various research projects, we test normal healthy subjects, aged individuals, and patients with Parkinson's disease.
This lab is featured on pages 6-7 of the Spring 2002 Movement magazine online.
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Current Projects
The goals of Dr. Seidler's research are to understand how motor performance becomes more efficient and skilled as a function of practice. Investigations include work with motor-learning deficient populations such as elderly adults and Parkinson's disease patients. Functional imaging is utilized to examine the neural networks contributing to skill performance both in the early and late stages of learning.
Skill Acquisition
The main focus of our laboratory is on understanding the behavioral and neural mechanisms of skill learning. We are interested in how and what people learn, how transfer of learning occurs, and how these processes are affected by aging.
FMRI studies of skill acquisition
These projects are designed to determine the brain regions that are associated with early and late components of sequence learning and sensorimotor adaptation, and how they change with age. This work is supported by a U-M Rackham faculty grant, an FMRI Center pilot grant, a Research Career Development award from the U-M NIH Pepper Center, and the NIH. Collaborators include Doug Noll, Patti Reuter-Lorenz, and Dan Willingham.
Behavioral studies of skill acquisition
These studies are designed to determine the underlying cognitive processes contributing to sequence learning and sensorimotor adaptation, and how they change with age. This work is supported by a Research Career Development award and the Human Subjects Core from the U-M NIH Pepper Center and the NIH. Collaborators include Patti Reuter-Lorenz and Dan Willingham.
EEG study of skill acquisition
In this experiment, we are determining the relationship between medial frontal negativity and error mechanisms in sensorimotor adaptation. This work is in collaboration with Bill Gehring.
Skill learning in musicians
These projects are utilizing musical training as a model for expertise. We are testing whether musicians trained from a young age exhibit advantages in various types of motor learning. This work is in collaboration with John Jonides, and is supported by the Dana Foundation (Jonides).
Aging and Bimanual Coordination
In this series of experiments, we are looking at the relationship between aging, structural changes in the corpus callosum, bimanual coordination, and functional patterns of brain recruitment.
Bimanual coordination in older adults
This experiment tests older and younger adults on discrete and continuous bimanual coordination tasks, which rely on differing neural mechanisms for synchronization of the two hands. This work is in collaboration with Patti Reuter-Lorenz. The project is supported by a grant from the U-M OVPR, and the following U-M NIH Pepper Center Cores: Pilot Grants, Research Career Development, and Human Subjects.
Functional and structural brain changes with age for the performance of cognitive and motor behaviors
These experiments examine whether bilateral brain recruitment patterns, often observed in older adults, are seen for both cognitive and motor tasks, and whether they are related to structural measures of the corpus callosum. This work is in collaboration with Patti Reuter-Lorenz, Doug Noll, and Robert Welsh. The project is supported by a grant from the U-M OVPR, and the following U-M NIH Pepper Center Cores: Pilot Grants, Research Career Development, and Human Subjects.
Timing
These studies, which form the basis of Ashley Bangert’s dissertation, are exploring the underlying mechanisms contributing to temporal processes. Experiments are designed in an effort to determine whether timing seems to rely more on one unified mechanism for short and long intervals, as well as for temporal estimation and production.
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Photos
MR technician Keith Newnham of the UM FMRI Center
prepares a study participant.
Psychology doctoral student Jessica Bernard conducting
a pilot TMS protocol to map the motor cortex.
Poster Prize Winner. Undergraduate NBL member Adam Savine and his poster
"Changes in Error Monitoring During Motor Learning"
took First Place in the Cognition and Perception Division in the
Undergraduate Psychology Research Forum on April 21, 2006.
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Neurology Testing Room Schedules
(Exchange username and password required):
Church Lady
Toonces
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Members
Back Row: Tim Mitchell, AFAR / MSTAR summer student;
Jessica Bernard, Psychology doctoral student;
Jeanne Langan, Postdoctoral associate;
Rachael Seidler, Lab Director;
Brett Fling, Kinesiology doctoral student.
Front Row: Joaquin Anguera, Kinesiology doctoral student;
Youngbin Kwak, Neuroscience doctoral student;
Ashley Bangert, recent graduate of Psychology doctoral program;
Jin Bo, Postdoctoral associate.
Faculty:
Rachael Seidler, Ph.D. (rseidler@umich.edu), Director
Postdoctoral Researchers:
Jin Bo (jinbo@umich.edu)
Jeanne Langan (jlangan@umich.edu)
Ph.D. Students:
Joaquin Anguera (janguera@umich.edu), Kinesiology
Ashley Bangert (abangert@umich.edu), Psychology
Undergraduate Students:
Bryan Benson, Movement Science
Joe Ferrentino, Psychology
Nikhil Kawlra, Neuroscience
Clare Porter, Psychology
Adam Savine, Psychology
Amanda Szabo, Movement Science
Collaborators:
Jacob Bloomberg, Ph.D. (jacob.j.bloomberg1@jsc.nasa.gov), NASA Johnson Space Center, Houston, TX
William Gehring, Ph.D. (wgehring@umich.edu), U-M Psychology
Douglas Noll, Ph.D. (dnoll@umich.edu), U-M Biomedical Engineering
Patricia Reuter-Lorenz, Ph.D. (parl@umich.edu), U-M Psychology
Robert Welsh, Ph.D. (rcwelsh@umich.edu), U-M Radiology and U-M Physics
Daniel Willingham, Ph.D. (Willingham@virginia.edu), University of Virginia Department of Psychology
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