LE3 .A278 2018

2018

Champod, Anne Sophie

Acadia University

Bachelor of Science

Honours

Psychology

Psychology

Prism adaptation (PA) is a promising treatment for spatial neglect, which is a common attention disorder following stroke. Peg-the-Mole (PTM) is a novel, game-like PA application that has been shown to induce aftereffects in healthy participants (i.e., a shift in attention from pre-topost-prism exposure). The goal of the present study was to examine the impact of using prisms of differing optical power with PTM on functional aftereffects (i.e., on a throwing task). Seventy-five participants used PTM with prism goggles inducing a shift of 0 ̊ (i.e., sham goggles), 5 ̊, 10 ̊, 15 ̊, or using a multi-step (gradual) procedure with prism goggles of 5 ̊, 10 ̊, and 15 ̊ in succession. The results suggested that the use of 15 ̊ deviating goggles is required to induce aftereffects on functional tasks. These results have important implications for the clinical implementation of PTM. The results will also be used to develop research protocols that will allow the examination of the neural mechanisms underlying these functional aftereffects.

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https://scholar.acadiau.ca/islandora/object/theses:2620