 General
Ergonomics
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Interventions for Individual Performance Improvement |
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Neurocognitive "Brain-Training" with the Interactive Metronome Biofeedback Relaxation Training =================================================================== Neurocognitive "Brain-Training" with the Interactive Metronome
The Interactive Metronome© (IM) is a computer-based assessment and training program designed to improve the brains processing abilities that affect attention, motor planning, and sequencing. How does it help? Research has shown that it improves eye-hand coordination and gross motor skills, as well as cognitive skills including the ability to pay attention, focus and concentrate. It also improves mental processing speed. What does the person do? The participant listens to a computer generated beat and tries to synchronize hand and foot movements to match the beat. A sensor located in a trigger pad on the palm of the hand or in a floor mat records the participant's hand clapping or foot tapping and measures how close they were to the target beat in milliseconds. Why does it work? There are several ideas behind why it works. First, a sense of timing and rhythm are important for every action and task a person does. By improving timing and rhythm, other more complex actions improve too, such as throwing and catching a ball or moving one's eyes across a page to read. Second, training the part of the brain responsible for planning, sequencing, analysis, decision making, and higher order motor control strengthens that part of the brain (the neural network) resulting in improvements in other thinking tasks that involve that part of the brain. Third, it teaches the user to focus on the sound and ignore other distractions, and this skill remains when they are doing any other jobs that require them to focus, like paying attention in class!
Although the training was originally designed to help children who had problems with attention, such as those with attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder, it has now been shown to help middle and high school children improve their grades, their reading comprehension and math fluency, and their motor coordination. It is used with children and adults and for those with and without injuries and disabilities. It is used by professional sports teams to improve their game (including the Miami Dolphins, Miami Heat, Notre Dame Students on Athletic Scholarships). It even improves golf ball placement accuracy for adult golfers! Call us to improve your golf game!
Contact GenErgo@gmail.com to schedule evaluation/intervention.
Note that this is more related to individual performance improvement than
Human Factors/Ergonomics Biofeedback Relaxation Training What is it?Biofeedback relaxation training teaches you to use your body's physiological measurements, such as skin conductance and heart rate variability to improve your own ability to relax and to handle stress and anxiety. Although a person learn to synchronize their breath and heart rate on their own, with practice -- it helps to start with some coaching. How does it help? Case study research has shown that biofeedback can assist with pain management, reducing anxiety, and even improving sports performance. Through attaining a state of relaxation, an individual can reportedly improve their mental clarity, inner calm, and active engagement in their activities. What does the person do? The participant attaches finger monitors to assess skin temperature and heart rate variability which are read into a computer program. With verbal coaching, the individual learns to control and synchronize his or her breathing and to control the computer output and games. When a person learns to remain calm (less heart rate variability and greater skin temperature), the computer games progress! Why does it work? There are several ideas to why biofeedback may work. Foremost is the concept that a person really can learn, through mental control, to influence his or her physical and emotional state. Who can benefit from the training? Contact GenErgo@gmail.com to schedule evaluation/intervention. Note that this is more related to individual performance improvement than Human Factors/Ergonomics, see the Ergonomics Overview for a definition.
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