Symposium

Cross-Cutting

Neuroplasticity (includes neuroscience)

Spinal Cord Injury

Stroke

Technology (e.g. robotics, assistive technology, mHealth)

21st-Century Neurorehabilitation: Negotiated Equilibrium-Based Methods for Targeting Neuroplasticity That Enhances Functional Recovery (857849)

Presenter(s)

• 

  Jonathan R. Wolpaw, MD

  Director, National Center for Adaptive Neurotechnologies
  Stratton VA Medical Center
  Albany, New York

  Presentation Slides
• 

  Sumner L. Norman, PhD

  Postdoctoral Scholar
  California Institute of Technology
  Pasadena, California

  Presentation Slides Handouts
• 

  Monica A. Perez, PT, PhD

  Scientific Chair Arms + Hands Ability Lab
  Shirley Ryan Ability lab
  Chicago, Illinois
• 

  Aiko K. Thompson, PhD

  Associate Professor
  Medical University of South Carolina
  Charleston, South Carolina

  Presentation Slides

Throughout life, the CNS plasticity continues to exist and exists in many forms. Guiding such complex plasticity appropriately towards restoring lost motor function is a necessary and difficult challenge. The new negotiated equilibrium model of CNS function (J Physiol 2018:596.16:3469-91) provides a strategy for guiding beneficial plasticity in a targeted manner. Negotiated equilibrium-based neuromodulation training protocols can produce beneficial plasticity at critical sites in the CNS (e.g., specific descending pathways or neuronal populations). By doing so, they improve the ongoing negotiation among motor skills that involve the targeted CNS site. This enables CNS neuronal and synaptic properties to escape a suboptimal local minimum and reach a superior new equilibrium that enhances recovery. This symposium engages computational neuroscience; neuromodulation; and neurorehabilitation.

Learning Objectives:

• Understand the strategy of targeted neuroplasticity (TNP) starting from its origin in the negotiated equilibrium model of CNS function.
• Explain two promising classes of TNP therapeutic protocols and the initial studies indicating that they are effective in enhancing functional recovery.
• Value a simple computational model for evaluating the potential functional impact of a new TNP protocol and for optimizing the parameters of the protocol (e.g., dosage, target specifications).
• Gain theoretical understanding and practical knowledge about a principled and powerful new strategy for inducing and guiding beneficial plasticity so as to enhance recovery in people with neuromuscular disorders.