Jun 08, 2008
Tactile acuity in experienced Tai Chi practitioners
Tactile acuity in experienced Tai Chi practitioners: evidence for use dependent plasticity as an effect of sensory-attentional training.
Exp Brain Res. 2008 May 30;
Authors: Kerr CE, Shaw JR, Wasserman RH, Chen VW, Kanojia A, Bayer T, Kelley JM
The scientific discovery of novel training paradigms has yielded better understanding of basic mechanisms underlying cortical plasticity, learning and development. This study is a first step in evaluating Tai Chi (TC), the Chinese slow-motion meditative exercise, as a training paradigm that, while not engaging in direct tactile stimulus training, elicits enhanced tactile acuity in long-term practitioners. The rationale for this study comes from the fact that, unlike previously studied direct-touch tactile training paradigms, TC practitioners focus specific mental attention on the body's extremities including the fingertips and hands as they perform their slow routine. To determine whether TC is associated with enhanced tactile acuity, experienced adult TC practitioners were recruited and compared to age-gender matched controls. A blinded assessor used a validated method (Van Boven et al. in Neurology 54(12): 2230-2236, 2000) to compare TC practitioners' and controls' ability to discriminate between two different orientations (parallel and horizontal) across different grating widths at the fingertip. Study results showed that TC practitioners' tactile spatial acuity was superior to that of the matched controls (P < 0.04). There was a trend showing TC may have an enhanced effect on older practitioners (P < 0.066), suggesting that TC may slow age related decline in this measure. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to evaluate a long-term attentional practice's effects on a perceptual measure. Longitudinal studies are needed to examine whether TC initiates or is merely correlated with perceptual changes and whether it elicits long-term plasticity in primary sensory cortical maps. Further studies should also assess whether related somatosensory attentional practices (such as Yoga, mindfulness meditation and Qigong) achieve similar effects
23:22 Posted in Meditation & brain | Permalink | Comments (1) | Email this | Tags: meditation, neuroscience
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Interesting for your opengenious idea?
http://www.gnuband.org/2008/06/11/the_elsevier_grand_challenge_-_knowledge_enhancement_in_the_life_sciences/
Cross-posted on my blog on nature.com and surely of interest for my friends of sci.bzaar.net.
UPDATE: I forgot to mention that "the first place winner will be awarded a cash prize of US$35,000 and the second place winner a cash prize of US$15,000."
The Elsevier Grand Challenge: Knowledge Enhancement in the Life Sciences is a contest created to improve the way scientific information is communicated and used. The contest invites members of the scientific community to describe and prototype a tool to improve the interpretation and identification of meaning in (online) journals and text databases relating to the life sciences. Specifically we are looking for new ways to:
1. improve the process/methods/results of creating, reviewing and editing scientific content
2. interpret, visualize or connect the knowledge more effectively, and/or
3. provide tools/ideas for measuring the impact of these improvements.
While the traditional functions of peer-review, quality control, dissemination and archiving remain at the heart of scientific publishing, it is clear that new technologies are creating opportunities to facilitate interpretation of data. In initiating the Elsevier Grand Challenge, we hope to interact with the scientific community to discuss changing modes of publishing and knowledge sharing with innovative groups who are interested in changing the way science is published. The objective is to generate useful new ideas that could have a widespread impact on scientific publishing in general.
Abstracts are now invited. Submissions will close on July 15th, 2008.
Posted by: paolo | Jun 11, 2008
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