Influence of the ability to roll the tongue and tongue-training parameters on oral motor performance and learning

• Published in: Archives of oral biology Vol. 56; no. 11; pp. 1419 - 1423
• Main Authors: Kothari, M., Svensson, P., Basic, A., Christiansen, B., Vigsø, M., Truc, L., Baad-Hansen, L.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Elsevier Ltd 01.11.2011
• Subjects: Adult; Advanced Basic Science; Analysis of Variance; Brain Damage, Chronic - rehabilitation; Dentistry; Female; Humans; Learning; Male; Middle Aged; Motor performance; Motor Skills; Myofunctional Therapy - methods; Neuronal Plasticity; Rehabilitation; Time Factors; Tongue - physiology; Tongue rolling ability; Tongue-training; Young Adult; Tongue rolling ability; Rehabilitation; Motor performance; Tongue-training
• ISSN: 0003-9969; 1879-1506; 1879-1506
• DOI: 10.1016/j.archoralbio.2011.04.017

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. 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 20min (3 different settings – A, B, C, with different timing of task). Perceived task difficulty was evaluated on a 0–10 numerical rating scale (NRS). 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. 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.