# Behavioral and Neurophysiologic Process of Locomotor Learning After Stroke

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIVERSITY OF DELAWARE · 2024 · $476,329

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY / ABSTRACT
Despite significant time and money spent on post-stroke rehabilitation, stroke survivors are left with reduced
walking capacity and significant disability. Rehabilitation following stroke is required to make gains in walking
beyond those achieved through spontaneous recovery during the first several months after stroke and this
occurs through relearning movements that have been disrupted due to damage to the brain. Enhancing post-
stroke motor learning is therefore critical to improving post-stroke rehabilitation. Most research examining the
effects of stroke on locomotor learning has focused on a specific form of implicit locomotor learning
(sensorimotor adaptation), which is relatively automatic. Post-stroke rehabilitation, however, is dominated by
techniques, such as visual feedback and verbal cues, that are meant to encourage patients’ use of explicit
learning (requiring attention, awareness). Considering that the effects of stroke on these two categories of
learning (explicit and implicit) are likely quite different, since different brain areas are primarily involved in each
type of learning, we must understand the effects of stroke on both types of learning. Moreover, factors such as
cognitive deficits likely have differing effects, depending on the type of learning. Cognitive function is thought to
be critical for more explicit forms of motor learning (specifically strategy-based learning), unlike implicit learning
which is thought to place less demand on cognitive resources. Despite the numerous cognitive deficits present
after stroke, the influence of cognitive function on motor learning (both implicit and explicit) after stroke has
largely been ignored. Finally, differences in explicit and implicit learning may also influence the effects of
exercise priming, (the coupling of a short bout of high intensity exercise with a learning task), that has been
suggested as a mechanism to enhance motor learning in rehabilitation. In Aims 1 and 2 of this project, using
both behavioral and computational data, we will determine the relationship between cognitive deficits (and
other factors, such as stroke location) and locomotor learning in both explicit (strategy-based) and implicit
(sensorimotor adaptation) locomotor learning tasks in those with chronic (>6 months) stroke. In Aim 3 we
examine the effect of a short bout of high intensity exercise immediately following strategy-based locomotor
learning on the retention of the newly learned walking pattern, along with its interaction with cognitive deficits,
in those with chronic stroke. The results of this proposal have immediate implications for clinical practice
because they will inform clinicians when to use certain techniques (e.g.-visual feedback with explicit cues,
exercise priming) in patients with stroke with particular cognitive deficits, allowing for the design of
personalized rehabilitation interventions.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10814737
- **Project number:** 5R01HD078330-08
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF DELAWARE
- **Principal Investigator:** DARCY S. REISMAN
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $476,329
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2014-09-22 → 2026-03-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10814737

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10814737, Behavioral and Neurophysiologic Process of Locomotor Learning After Stroke (5R01HD078330-08). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10814737. Licensed CC0.

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