Arend Van Gemmert
Professor
Bachelor's Degree(s): Psychology, University of Nijmegen, The Netherlands, 1988
Master's Degree: Experimental Psychology, University of Nijmegen, The Netherlands, 1992
PhD: Experimental Psychology, University of Nijmegen, The Netherlands, 1997
Phone: 225-578-4701
Email: gemmert@lsu.edu
Office: 1131F HPL Field House
Biography
Dr. Van Gemmert is the director of the Fine Motor Control and Learning Laboratory. His research interests centers around the control of fine motor tasks, such as handwriting, drawing, pointing, and reach-to-grasp movements. His research can be divided into three closely related focus areas: (1) This area of studies focuses on the mechanisms responsible for movement control during increased demands due to stress and mental load, (2) This area of projects focuses on the changes in fine movement control due to physiologic deterioration of the movement system as result of advanced age and neurological disease, (3) The final area of interest assembles knowledge gained in the areas described in 1 and 2 to understand challenges to (re)learn fine motor tasks under strenuous conditions as a consequence of stress, mental load, advanced age, and neurological disease. Dr Van Gemmert joined the Division of Motor Behavior in the School of Kinesiology in the fall of 2008, and he is assigned to teach classes in motor learning.
Selected Publications
Pan, Z., & Van Gemmert, A. W. A. (2013). The direction of bilateral transfer depends on the performance parameter. Human Movement Science, 32,1070-1081.
Pan, Z., & Van Gemmert, A. W. A. (2013). The effects of aging on the asymmetry of inter-limb transfer in a visuomotor task. Experimental Brain Research, 229, 621-633.
Poston, B., Van Gemmert, A. W. A., Sharma, S., Chakrabarti, S., Zavaremi, S. H., & Stelmach, G. E. (2013). Movement trajectory smoothness is not associated with the endpoint accuracy of rapid multi-joint arm movements in young and older adults. Acta Psychologica, 143, 157-167.
Van Gemmert, A. W. A. (2012). Timing of tone presentation does alter training performance but not retention performance of a point-to-point sequence task. Advances in Physical Education, 2, 82-87.
Rand, M. K., Van Gemmert, A. W. A., Hossain, A. B. M. I., Shimansky, Y. P., & Stelmach, G. E. (2012). Control of aperture closure initiation during trunk-assisted reach-to-grasp movements. Experimental Brain Research, 219, 293-304.
Hughes, B, Van Gemmert, A. W. A., & Stelmach G. E. (2011). Linguistic and perceptual-motor contributions to the kinematic properties of the braille reading finger. Human Movement Science, 30, 711-730.
Ringenbach, S. D. R., Van Gemmert, A. W. A., Shill, H. A., & Stelmach, G. E. (2011). Auditory instructional cues benefit unimanual and bimanual drawing in Parkinson’s disease patients. Human Movement Science, 30, 770-782.
Vinter, A., Van Gemmert, A. W. A., & Phillips, J. G. (2011). Special issue: Progress in graphonomics: A perceptual motor skill perspective. Human Movement Sciences, 30, 683-686.
Selected Presentations
Van Gemmert, A. W. A., Plamondon, R., & O’Reilly, C. (2013). Using the Sigma-lognormal model to investigate handwriting of individuals with Parkinson’s disease. In M. Nakagawa, M. Liwicki, and B. Zhu (Eds.), Proceedings of the 16th Conference of the International Graphonomics Society (pp. 119-122). Nijmegen: IGS.
Aiken, C. A., Pan, Z., & Van Gemmert, A. W. A. (2013). Transfer occurs within the same limb when a learned skill requires the use of different muscles to perform the task. Journal of Sport & Exercise Psychology, 35(Suppl.), S16.
Aiken, C. A., Pan, Z., & Van Gemmert, A. W. A. (2012). Control of a visuo-motor aiming task transfers within the dominant upper limb. Society for Neuroscience Abstracts (Program No. 679.14), Online.
Pan, Z., & Van Gemmert, A. W. A. (2012). Parkinson’s disease patients may attend to benefits related to smoothness and efficiency in bilateral transfer of learning. Society for Neuroscience Abstracts (Program No. 755.12), Online.
Van Gemmert, A. W. A., Li, L., Prejean, P., Pan, Z., & Hondzinski, J. M. (2012). Long-term tai chi participation benefits fine motor skill function of Parkinson’s disease patients. Journal of Sport & Exercise Psychology, 34(Suppl.), S142.
Rose, K. M., Van Gemmert, A. W. A., Hondzinski, J. M., & Li, L. (2012). Asymmetry in Parkinson’s Disease is reflected in the Timed Up and Go Test. The 59th American College of Sports Medicine Annual Conference. San Francisco, California.
Hondzinski, J. M., Li, L., Pan, Z., Prejean, P., & Van Gemmert, A. W. A. (2012). Movement excursion explains associations between gross and fine motor functions in older adults with and without Parkinson’s disease. Journal of Sport & Exercise Psychology, 34(Suppl.), S88-S89.
Our faculty in Motor Behavior are a key part of the LSU Life Course & Aging Center, had a major part in developing the new robotics minor and planning research grants with Engineering and computer science, and collaborate within researchers off campus.