Cerebral palsy (CP) is a developmental disorder associated with lifelong motor impairment and disability. Several studies have investigated the effects of CP on sensory responses, but there has been no research on olfactory function in CP. This study had two specific aims. First, by observing respiratory responses which serve as an index for the ability to detect and recognize odors, we aimed to estimate the patients' ability to distinguish pleasant from unpleasant odors. These responses can also indicate the capacity for an emotional response to pleasant or unpleasant stimuli. Second, we aimed to investigate the psychological response in the parents as they observed the respiratory response in their children during the odor test. Parents were assessed with the Spielberger State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) to measure their state anxiety levels before and after they had observed their children being tested. In patients with CP, respiratory rate (RR) significantly decreased during pleasant odor stimuli (P < 0.05). There was a significant increase in RR during the presentation of the unpleasant odor (P < 0.05). All the CP patients showed respiratory changes in response to both pleasant and unpleasant smells, and we found that the parents' anxiety levels decreased after the test. We intend to develop this olfactory test technique to contribute to the neurological rehabilitation for CP patients and to reduce anxiety of their parents.
Respiratory muscle stretch gymnastics (RMSG) are designed to decrease chest wall stiffness, reduce dyspnea at rest and improve the quality of life. The focus of this study was to determine whether a RMSG program affects the psychological state of healthy subjects. A previous study showed that there is a positive correlation between anxiety level and respiratory rate (RR). We hypothesize that RMSG will decrease the RR related to alterations in anxiety or other factors that are associated with the quality of life in healthy children. Forty-four primary school children living in Tokyo participated in the study and were randomly assigned to either gymnastics or control groups. Baseline assessment of both groups included completion of the Questionnaire for Measuring Health-Related Quality of Life in Children (Kid-KINDL) and the State-Trait Anxiety Inventories for Children (STAI-C). RRs were recorded initially and the children in the gymnastics group were instructed on how to perform RMSG. The RR was measured again and the participants completed the state anxiety scale. The gymnastics group was told to perform the gymnastics once a day for one week, whereupon post-testing using the testing protocol used for the baseline measurement was performed again on both groups. RR and anxiety level significantly decreased while Kid-KINDL increased after one week of RMSG in high trait anxiety subjects of the gymnastics group. We suggest that the decrease in RR after RMSG reduces anxiety levels in children, and contributes to an improvement in their Kid-KINDL score.
Experiments were carried out on blindfolded human subjects to study the contribution of proprioceptive inputs from both arms in a forearm position matching task. Blindfolded matching accuracy was compared with accuracy when the subject could see their indicator (matching) arm, when they used a dummy arm for matching, and when they looked at a mirror image of the matching arm. The position of the mirror had been arranged so that the image of the indicator arm coincided with the position of the reference arm. None of these conditions significantly altered the matching errors. When reference elbow flexors were vibrated at 70-80 Hz, the illusion of extension of the vibrated arm reported by blindfolded subjects was significantly reduced by vision of the mirror image of the indicator arm or when using the dummy arm. It was concluded that visual information about the position of the indicator arm, or the apparent position of the reference arm, could reduce the size of the kinaesthetic illusion from vibration, but not abolish it. In a second experiment, subjects indicated, by tracking with their vibrated arm, the illusion of forearm extension evoked by elbow flexor vibration. It was found that the perceived speed of extension could be reduced by moving the indicator into extension and increased by moving it into flexion. These experiments demonstrate the importance for the matching process of the input provided by the indicator arm. Such a conclusion may help to explain some apparent discrepancies between observations made on position sense using one-arm and two-arm tasks. More broadly, this paper provides support for the idea that aspects of proprioceptive inputs from both arms are processed conjointly, as part of a strategy for use of the two hands as a single instrument in certain skilled tasks.
In this study we used the electroencephalograph (EEG) dipole tracing method to analyze the visual and emotional evoked potentials (VEEPs) triggered by emotional stimuli induced by pictures of fear, sadness and happiness selected from the International Affective Picture System. We hypothesized that if we used the emotional pictures as triggers for averaging the EEG, we could determine VEEPs, and dipoles could be estimated in the visual cortex as well as in the areas related to the picture-induced emotions. We found the VEEP components elicited by fearful and sad stimuli were quite similar and there were no differences in the root mean square values of the positive waves, P1 and P2, in these two stimuli. However, the VEEP elicited by the happy stimulus had a significantly different amplitude compared to the fearful and sad stimuli. Different amplitude components of VEEPs between negative and positive emotions might be caused by differences in the processing of activations. The negative emotions of fear and sadness activated the amygdala in parallel with the visual cortex immediately after the stimuli; and at a later time period the anterior cingulate cortex was activated for conscious awareness of the negative emotions. A simple happy stimulus does not need parallel activation of the amygdala and anterior cingulate cortex, along with activation of the visual cortex. We suggest that parallel processing in the visual cortex and amygdala might serve to rapidly evaluate stimuli, in readiness for the conscious awareness of negative emotions.
