In Motor Activity and Movement Disorders thirteen state-of-the-art articles explicate forefront research methodologies for measuring and interpreting motor activity in animals, as well as their applications to preclinical and clinical research involving motor disorders. The contributors emphasize motor asymmetries, turning behavior, and dyskinetic movements. They also present a variety of quantitative approaches designed to assess specific aspects of motor activity and illustrate numerous computerized measuring techniques that permit detailed and objective approaches to quantifying motor behavior.

Motor Activity and Movement Disorders will contribute to a greater understanding of brain-behavior relationships through its focus on methodology and its application to current animal models and to human disorders.

Inhalt

Part I: Basic Research Issues. Long-Term Habituation of q-Related Activity Components of Albino Rats in the Làt Maze, Adolfo Gustavo Sadile. Tonic Immobility as a Model of Extreme States of Behavioral Inhibition: Issues of Methodology and Measurement, Gordon G. Gallup, Jr. and Dawn R. Rager. Circadian Organization of Locomotor Activity in Mammals, Ralph E. Mistlberger. Sex Differences in Rodent Spontaneous Activity Levels, Larissa A. Mead, Eric L. Hargreaves, and Liisa A. M. Galea. Automated Video-Image Analysis of Behavioral Asymmetries, R. K. W. Schwarting, J. Fornaguera, and J. P. Huston. Automated Methods of Measuring Gnawing Behaviors, Donald E. Moss and Edward Castañeda. Part II: Preclinical Research. The Catalepsy Test: Is a Standardized Method Possible? Paul R. Sanberg, Rodrigo Martinez, R. Douglas Shytle, and David W. Cahill. Computer-Assisted Video Assessment of Dyskinetic Movements, Gaylord Ellison and Alan Keys. The Computer Pattern Recognition System for Study of Spontaneous Behavior of Rats: A Diagnostic Tool for Damage in the Central Nervous System? Phyllis J. Mullenix. Circling Behavior in Rodents: Methodology, Biology, and Functional Implications, Jeffrey N. Carlson and Stanley D. Glick. Asymmetrical Motor Behavior in Animal Models of Human Diseases: The Elevated Body Swing Test, Cesario V. Borlongan and Paul R. Sanberg. Measuring Spontaneous Turning Behaviors in Children and Adults, H. Stefan Bracha and Jeffrey W. Gilger. Clinical Assessment of Motor Abnormalities in Tourette's Syndrome, R. D. Shytle, A. A. Silver, and Paul R. Sanberg. Index.