April 210, 2011 - John Krakauer

Title: Thinking about an old problem in a new way: Stroke recovery through brain stimulation, VR, robotics, and videogames

Abstract:
Stroke is the leading cause of motor disability in the United States, affecting 750,000 people per year. Recent work in animal models suggests that there is a limited window of heightened plasticity in the first four weeks after ischemic injury. Data suggest that there is likely a similar window in humans after stroke, although it may last longer than four weeks but probably not more than 3 months. The argument will be made that we need to find novel interventions that augment and extend this plasticity window because current rehabilitation fails to do so. These interventions could include robotic therapy, virtual reality, videogames, and non-invasive brain stimulation. It is to be hoped that collaborative efforts between computer scientists, video-game designers, roboticists, neuroscientists, and neurologists will help solve a problem that so far has proved intractable.