MOTOR PHENOMENON MEASUREMENT

摘要

Motor phenomena are measured by using a pen-and-tablet digitizer and a personal computer to instruct, prompt and make a data record of a human patient's performance of a handwriting task, analyze the data record, and report features of the patient's performance. Examples of reported features are measures of dysfluency and measures of velocity scaling. Reported features are correlated with information about the patient's state of health (especially schizophrenia), medication (especially antipsychotic and neuroleptic) as a superior alternative to scales based on clinical observation for detecting motor effects of a medication, comparing side effects of medications, adjusting dosages, and observing the course of motor disturbances such as Parkinsonism and tardive dyskinesia.