Department of Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation Science

The main research goals of the Brain Behavior Lab are to better understand the factors that influence motor-skill learning. Motor-skill factors include the type and amount of skill repetition involved, the type of skills to be learned, the type of instructions provided, issues related to aging, damage to the brain, and sleep. Researchers are particularly interested in understanding how individuals with brain damage, such as stroke, recover motor function and the underlying mechanisms that promote this recovery. We have recently demonstrated that individuals suffering from chronic stroke benefit from sleep to promote motor skill learning whereas older, healthy adults do not. The Brain Behavior Lab is currently working to understand which sleep parameters are associated with overnight skill enhancement using EEG. 

The Lab Team
Lab Director
	Catherine F. Siengsukon, PT, PhD Assistant Professor
Current Students	Alham Al-sharman Krystal Hay Funded through the Neurological and Rehabilitation Sciences Graduate Training Program
Past Students	Melissa Blasing Kristen Matthews Erin Musil Funded through the Neurological and Rehabilitation Sciences Graduate Training Program
Collaborators	Jared Bruce, PhD Diane Filion, PhD Sharon Lynch, MD Joan McDowd, PhD Suzanne Stevens, MD

Current Projects

• Examining which sleep parameters are associated with off-line motor skill learning in individuals following stroke
• Examining how cognition impacts sleep-dependent off-line motor skill learning in individuals following stroke
• Assessing the role of sleep in learning a complex motor skill in young, healthy adults
• Assessing the impact of sleep and age on learning a functional real-life task
• Analyzing sleep disturbances in individuals with stroke and multiple sclerosis
  

Recent Presentations

• Sleep Promotes Off-line Enhancement of an Explicitly Learned Discrete but not Continuous Task. Research poster presentation at APTA Combined Section’s Meeting, New Orleans, LA, 2011
  
  
• Sleep Promotes Transfer of Learning. Research poster presentation at APTA Combined Section’s Meeting, San Diego, CA, 2010

Lab Equipment
The Brain Behavior Laboratory houses multiple workstations for the collection and processing of behavioral data.