title: Influence of the ability to roll the tongue and tongue-training parameters on oral motor performance and learning.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Training of tongue function is an important part of rehabilitation of patients with brain damage. A standardized tongue-training task has been shown to induce cortical plasticity. This study tested the possible influence of the natural ability to roll the tongue and modulations of tongue-training parameters on tongue-training performance.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 44 healthy adult subjects participated. 29 subjects (15 with and 14 without ability to roll their tongue) performed 1h standard tongue-training task. Another 15 subjects participated in 2 sessions: Standard and Modulation in randomized order. Standard session: 1h tongue-training with fixed training parameters; Modulation session: 1h tongue-training with modulation of training parameters every 20 min (3 different settings - A, B, C, with different timing of task). Perceived task difficulty was evaluated on a 0-10 numerical rating scale (NRS).
  
  
  RESULTS
  All participants improved performance during training (P<0.001). The ability to roll the tongue did not influence tongue-training performance (P=0.617). Modulation of training parameters influenced baseline training performance (P<0.018) and improvement (P=0.039). The mean perceived difficulty on NRS was: Standard: 6 ± 2; Modulation: A: 6 ± 2; B: 7 ± 1;C: 4 ± 1. Perceived task difficulty (ρ=-0.740, P<0.001) and performance improvement (ρ=-0.610, P<0.001) were inversely correlated with baseline training performance.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The natural ability to roll the tongue did not influence tongue-training performance. Modulation of tongue-training parameters by alteration of timing of the training task influenced tongue-training performance and perceived task difficulty.
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Oral Physiology, School of Dentistry, Aarhus University, Denmark. mohit.kothari@odontologi.au.dk
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kothari
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Svensson
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Basic
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Christiansen
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Vigsø
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Truc
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Baad-Hansen
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001925:Brain Damage, Chronic / Q000534:rehabilitation; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007858:Learning; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009048:Motor Skills; D020247:Myofunctional Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D009473:Neuronal Plasticity; D013997:Time Factors; D014059:Tongue / Q000502:physiology*; D055815:Young Adult