Impaired finger dexterity in Parkinson's disease is associated with praxis function

A controversial concept suggests that impaired finger dexterity in Parkinson’s disease may be related to limb kinetic apraxia that is not explained by elemental motor deficits such as bradykinesia. To explore the nature of dexterous difficulties, the aim of the present study was to assess the relationship of finger dexterity with ideomotor praxis function and parkinsonian symptoms. Twenty-five patients with Parkinson’s disease participated in the study. Their left and right arms were tested independently. Testing was done in an OFF and ON state as defined by a modified version of the Movement Disorder Society-Unified Parkinson’s Disease Rating Scale (MDS-UPDRS). Finger dexterity was assessed by a coin rotation (CR) task and ideomotor praxis using a novel test of upper limb apraxia (TULIA), in which the patients were requested to imitate and pantomime 48 meaningless, as well as communicative and tool-related gestures. Coin rotation significantly correlated with TULIA irrespective of the motor state and arm involved, but not with the MDS-UPDRS. This association was significantly influenced by Hoehn and Yahr stage.The strong association of finger dexterity with praxis function but not the parkinsonian symptoms indicates that impaired finger dexterity in Parkinson’s disease may be indeed apraxic in nature, yet, predominantly in advanced stages of the disease when cortical pathology is expected to develop. The findings are discussed within a cognitive-motor model of praxis function.     

Cortical localization of finger spelling and oral language: A case study

Finger spelling of letters and words was mapped by means of the cortical stimulation procedure in a hearing patient undergoing a left dominant anterior temporal lobe resection for relief of a seizure disorder. Finger spelling was disrupted at five sites: three overlapping with one or more oral language functions at sites in the classical posterior language area, two relating only to finger spelling in the anterior temporal region. Following the resection which included these latter sites, both short- and long-term postoperative deficits in finger spelling are described. Implications for the organization of manually based communication behavior in the left hemisphere are discussed.     

Finger localization and reading ability in three groups of children ages three through twelve

Developmental norms for eight finger-localization (FL) tasks similar to those used by Lindgren are extended to include 140 children ages 3 through 12. The strength of the relationship between these scores and two specific reading tasks is explored. Regression analyses reveal statistically significant correlations between FL ability and the ability to match spoken with printed words, as well as between FL scores and scores for silent reading and retelling of a paragraph. Three groups of children are used: children with normal language, those with dysphasia, and those with language impairments other than dysphasia. Performance scores of these three groups on other language tasks are compared.     

Finger coordination under artificial changes in finger strength feedback: a study using analytical inverse optimization

A recently developed method of analytical inverse optimization (ANIO) was used to compute cost functions based on sets of experimental observations in 4-finger pressing tasks with accurate total force and moment production. In different series, feedback on total force and moment was provided using the index finger force at its value, doubled, or halved. Finger force data across different force-moment combinations formed a plane. This allowed reconstructing cost functions as 2nd-order polynomials with linear terms. Changes in the coefficients of the cost function across the 3 series allowed the authors to offer a biomechanical interpretation related to constraints on finger forces with different lever arms. ANIO allows the authors to describe preferred regions within the space of solutions for redundant tasks in terms of cost functions.     

Integration of hand and finger location in external spatial coordinates for tactile localization

Tactile stimulus location is automatically transformed from somatotopic into external spatial coordinates, rendering information about the location of touch in three-dimensional space. This process is referred to as tactile remapping. Whereas remapping seems to occur automatically for the hands and feet, the fingers may constitute an exception in that some studies have implied purely somatotopic coding of touch to the fingers. When participants judge the order of two tactile stimuli, they often err when the stimulated body parts (usually the two hands) are crossed, presumably because somatotopic and external coordinates are in conflict in crossed postures. Using this task, we investigated, first, whether the fingers are unlike other limbs with regard to spatial coding, by testing whether crossing effects, indicative of external coding, were observable when stimulating two fingers, either on the same or on different hands. Second, we investigated the interaction of hand and finger posture in tactile localization of finger stimuli. Crossing effects emerged when fingers and hands were crossed, suggesting external coding for all body parts. Crossing effects were larger when both hand and finger were located in the hemifield opposite to their body side, and smaller when only hand or finger lay in the opposite hemifield. We suggest that tactile location is estimated by integrating the external location of all relevant body parts, here of a finger and its belonging hand, and that such integrative coding may represent a general principle for body part processing as well as for tool use.     

Pantomime, praxis, and aphasia.

The production and comprehension of pantomimed movements by asphasic subjects were studied with respect to their relationship to the aphasic deficit on one hand and apraxia on the other. At issue was whether impaired use of pantomime is a manifestation of reduced symbolic capacity or purely a manifestation of an apraxic impairment of purposeful movement or both. Tests of pantomime included a Pantomime Recognition Test, a nonverbal Transitive Pantomime Production Test, and an Intransitive Pantomime Production Test (to oral command). Imitation of Nonmeaningful Movements served as a measure of apraxia, uncontaminated by symbolic or linguistic factors. Imitation of Meaningful Movements taken from the pantomime tasks was also tested. Independent measures of auditory comprehension, picture naming, and reading comprehension were used as indices of language impairment. Intellectual function was measured by the Performance scale of the WAIS. Thirty aphasic subjects were examined. Twenty healthy age-matched normals served to establish scoring standards for the pantomime tests. Multiple regression analysis revealed significant, independent contributions from both auditory comprehension and imitation of Nonmeaningful Movements to all of the tests of pantomime production and pantomime recognition. All measures of pantomime production and pantomime recognition were strongly intercorrelated. While the three language measures were strongly correlated with each other, auditory comprehension was the only one of them that was significantly and consistently related to the pantomime tests. None was related to the imitation of nonmeaningful movement. The results are taken as indicating (1) that pantomime production and imitation share common factors with both praxis and auditory comprehension; (2) apraxia entails impairment of both production and interpretation of purposeful movements. Possible theoretical accounts for these results are offered.     

Empowerment praxis in community coalitions

Community coalitions address a wide variety of community problems, espousing a community development processes that promotes individual and collective self-determination. They offer a promising venue for the study of empowerment of individuals and organizations. This study utilizes data from members of 35 community coalitions organized for the prevention of alcohol and other drug problems to address the following questions: What individual characteristics are related to the psychological empowerment of coalition members? What organizational characteristics are related to the collective empowering of members? What organization characteristics are related to a coalition being organizationally empowered to succeed in achieving its objectives? At the individual level, psychological empowerment was most strongly related to individuals' participation levels, sense of community, and perceptions of a positive organizational climate. At the group level, the strongest predictors of collective empowering (our operationalization of the empowering organization) were net benefits of participation, commitment, and positive organization climate. Psychological empowerment and positive organizational climate were the two predictors of organizational effectiveness (the empowered organization). Implications and limitations of these findings are discussed.     

Language, moral order and political praxis

The paper argues that the debate between objectivist criticism and postmodern critique represents a fracturing of the modes of mundane social and linguistic practice. The two together miss the open-textured character of language-in-use and the reflexive properties of situated human practice. Both difference and agreement are grounded in the multiplicity of criteria that are a feature of the logical grammar of language, and therefore of everyday praxis, including that of critique. To escape the duality of foundationalism on the one hand, and radical relativism on the other, attention to the praxiological details of human action and reasoning is needed. The paper draws on Wittgensteinian philosophy and ethnomethodological studies of reasoning to make its case.     

Ethical contexts of healing: Ecclesia and praxis

Conclusion We have suggested that the church is called to reflect the Reign of God. To do so it must engage in a process of careful reflection on its confession that Jesus is Lord. This calls for a relativization of all other communities, the recognition of the church as a community in its own right and the rejection of ethical individualism. To be a healing community it will need to discern a response to the mental health needs around us. In the third article in this series, I will focus on the character of healers that might emerge if we were to take more seriously the Reign of God as an ethical culture and the church as a discerning community.     

The impurity of praxis: Arendt and Agamben

Continental Philosophy Review - If politics is understood as a foundational and open-ended activity, a general problem that arises from such a framing concerns the question of how to sustain the...