Wei-Peng Teo

Nanyang Technological University | ntu · National Institute of Education

Background Acute bouts of exercise have been shown to improve motor learning. However, whether these benefits can be observed from habitual physical activity (PA) levels remains unclear and has important implications around PA guidelines to promote motor learning across the lifespan. This study investigated the effect of habitual PA levels on brain...

Physical exercise is recognized for its beneficial effects on brain health and executive function, particularly through the careful manipulation of key exercise parameters, including type, intensity, and duration. The aim of this systematic review and meta-analysis was to delineate the optimal types, intensities, and durations of exercise that impr...

There is a pressing need to include older individuals in health education and uncover their specific needs. Leveraging the advantages of digitized health education, this study employed a participatory approach to engage community-dwelling older adults in co-creating a synchronous tele-education program, with dementia as the focus due to its rising...

The ability to engage and motivate and to support distance learning suggests the Immersive Virtual Reality Learning Environment (IVRLE) as an effective tool for the support and enhancement of collaborative learning. This study describes the theories, processes, and considerations in the design and development of an IVRLE with automated augmented fe...

Objective: This study assessed whether polyphenolic rich supplement containing Bacopa monnieri (BM: 300 mg), Panax quinquefolius ginseng (PQ: 100 mg) and whole coffee fruit extract (WCFE: 100 mg) could enhance cognitive performance, affect and cerebral-cortical activation over 28-days of intervention.Method: A randomised, double-blind, placebo-cont...

Physical activity offers numerous benefits for our overall health and well-being. In the last two decades, physical activity has also gained recognition for its utility in enhancing cognitive functioning. This chapter examines the evidence for this claim, with a focus on the association between physical activity on cognitive functioning and academi...

Optimizing collaborative behavior is crucial in educational activities, directly improving academic performance, social skills, and social-emotional learning for both teachers and students. In an effort to decipher the mechanisms underlying the effectiveness of collaborative learning, educators and neuroscientists have initiated the collection and...

Studies have shown that neural responses following concentric (CON) and eccentric (ECC) muscle contractions are different, which suggests differences in motor control associated with CON and ECC contractions. This study aims to determine brain activation of the left primary motor cortex (M1) and left and right dorsolateral prefrontal cortices (DLPF...

Whether education research can be informed by findings from neuroscience studies has been hotly debated since Bruer's (1997) famous claim that neuroscience and education are "a bridge too far". However, this claim came before recent advancements in portable electroencephalography (EEG) and functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) technologies,...

This study assessed the validity and reliability of force-time curve variables obtained from an dynamometer compared to a force platform during an isometric mid-thigh pull test. Eighteen athletes (age=18.7±6.12 years) participated in two sessions held one week apart. Peak force, rate of force development, and force at specific time points were comp...

Firefighters often experience low back pain (LBP), but their back muscle characteristics are not well studied. This study aimed to 1) compare the biomechanical characteristics of back muscles and self-reported back disabilities in frontline firefighters with and without LBP history, and 2) examine the relationships between back disability and biome...

Background: Understanding older people’s health-seeking behavior (HSB) is crucial for uncovering their health needs and priorities and developing appropriate policies to address them and avert their disease progression. Technologies play an active role in our daily lives and have been incorporated into health activities to support the older populat...

The microbiota-gut-brain axis' role in Parkinson's disease (PD) pathophysiology, and how this differs from typical ageing, is poorly understood. Presently, gut-bacterial diversity, taxonomic abundance and metabolic bacterial pathways were compared across healthy young (n = 22, 18-35 years), healthy older (n = 33, 50-80 years), and PD groups (n = 18...

Background: Aging is becoming a major global challenge. Compared with younger adults, the older population has greater health needs but faces inadequate access to appropriate, affordable, and high-quality health care. Telehealth can remove geographic and time boundaries, as well as enabling socially isolated and physically homebound people to acces...

Studies examining dual-task gait (DTG) have used varying conditions such as overground or treadmill walking, however it is not known whether brain activation patterns differ during these conditions. Therefore, this study compared oxyhaemoglobin (O2Hb) responses of the prefrontal cortex (PFC) during overground and treadmill walking. A total of 30 pa...

Best, T., Clarke, C., Nazum, N., Miller, J., & Teo, W-P. (March 14-15, 2023). Synergistic effects of polyphenolic compounds for mental effort and cerebral haemodynamic response of the prefrontal cortex in adults. [Conference session]. International Society for Nutritional Psychiatry Research Conference 2023 (ISNPR2023), Cairns Australia.

This systematic review investigated the effects of high-intensity exercise (HIE) on lower limb (LL) function in acute and subacute stroke patients. A systematic electronic search was performed in PubMed, CINAHL and the Web of Science from inception to 30 June 2022. Outcomes examined included LL function and measures of activities of daily living su...

Cross-education is the phenomenon where training of one limb can cause neuromuscular adaptations in the opposite untrained limb. This effect has been reported to be greater after eccentric (ECC) than concentric (CON) strength training; however, the underpinning neurophysiological mechanisms remain unclear. Thus, we compared responses to transcrania...

To assess the cortical activity in people with Parkinson’s disease (PwP) with different motor phenotype (tremor-dominant— TD and postural instability and gait difficulty—PIGD) and to compare with controls. Twenty-four PwP (during OFF and ON medication) and twelve age-/sex-/handedness-matched healthy controls underwent electrophysiological assessmen...

BACKGROUND Population aging is a global phenomenon, and older people may have a possible increase in seeking health services. Digital technologies such as smartwatches, mobile apps, exergames, and telemedicine, have progressively permeated our life and have become increasingly popular in supporting the aging population and facilitating healthy agin...

Background: Understanding older people's health-seeking behavior (HSB) is crucial to uncovering their health needs and priorities, as well as developing appropriate policies to address these needs and avert their disease progression. Technologies play an active role in our daily lives, and they have been incorporated into health activities to supp...

Contribution to the field We hosted a special research topic issue for Frontiers in Neuroergonomics that focused on brain mechanisms underpinning physical movement and exercise. In total, 8 papers were accepted totalling 31 authors that covered three main domains: 1) Methods to elucidate fine motor control, 2) Exercise-related brain adaptations, an...

The impetus for many governments globally to treat the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) as an endemic warrant more research into the prevention, and management of long COVID syndrome (LCS). Whilst the data on LCS remains scarce, reports suggest a large proportion of recovered individuals will experience ongoing neuropsychological symptoms, even with mi...

Back pain and back-related injuries are common complaints among emergency responders. The purpose of this study was to compare the effectiveness of two strength and conditioning programs in improving back muscle characteristics and disabilities in emergency responders (firefighters/paramedics). Participants (n = 24) were randomized into two groups...

Current literature lacks consolidated evidence for the impact of stimulation parameters on the effects of transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) in enhancing upper limb motor learning. Hence, we aim to synthesise available methodologies and results to guide future research on the usage of tDCS on upper limb motor learning, specifically in o...

Poor motor function or physical performance is a predictor of cognitive decline. Additionally, slow gait speed is associated with poor cognitive performance, with gait disturbances being a risk factor for dementia. Parallel declines in muscular and cognitive performance (resulting in cognitive frailty) might be driven primarily by muscle deteriorat...

BACKGROUND Global ageing is becoming a major global challenge. Older adults often have greater health needs compared to the younger generation but are facing inadequate access to appropriate, affordable, and high-quality health care. Telehealth can remove the geographic and time boundaries, as well as enabling the socially isolated and physically h...

Background: Aging is becoming a major global challenge. Compared with younger adults, the older population has greater health needs but faces inadequate access to appropriate, affordable, and high-quality health care. Telehealth can remove geographic and time boundaries, as well as enabling socially isolated and physically homebound people to acce...

Objective: "Subsyndromal" obsessive-compulsive disorder symptoms (OCDSs) are common and cause impaired psychosocial functioning. OCDSs are better captured by dimensional models of psychopathology, as opposed to categorical diagnoses. However, such dimensional approaches require a deep understanding of the underlying neurocognitive drivers and impu...

There is continued debate regarding Parkinson’s disease etiology and whether it originates in the brain or begins in the gut. Recently, evidence has been provided for both, with Parkinson’s disease onset presenting as either a “body-first” or “brain-first” progression. Most research indicates those with Parkinson’s disease have an altered gut micro...

Transcranial magnetic stimulation studies have demonstrated increased cortical facilitation and reduced inhibition following aerobic exercise, even when examining motor regions separate to the exercised muscle group. These changes in brain physiology following exercise may create favorable conditions for adaptive plasticity and motor learning. One...

Resistance exercise is used extensively in athletic and general populations to induce neuromuscular adaptations to increase muscle size and performance. Exercise parameters such as exercise frequency, intensity, duration and modality are carefully manipulated to induce specific adaptations to the neuromuscular system. While the benefits of resistan...

Background Falls are a major health burden for older adults with Parkinson’s disease (PD), but there is currently no reliable questionnaire to capture the circumstances and consequences of falls in older adults with PD. This study aimed to develop a PD-specific falls questionnaire and to evaluate its test-retest reliability in older adults with PD....

Roberts, SSH, Aisbett, B, Teo, W-P, and Warmington, S. Monitoring effects of sleep extension and restriction on endurance performance using heart rate indices. J Strength Cond Res XX(X): 000-000, 2021-Heart rate (HR) indices are useful for monitoring athlete fatigue or "readiness to perform." This study examined whether HR indices are sensitive to...

Introduction 24-hour movement behaviours (physical activity, sedentary behaviour and sleep) during the early years are associated with health and developmental outcomes, prompting the WHO to develop Global guidelines for physical activity, sedentary behaviour and sleep for children under 5 years of age. Prevalence data on 24-hour movement behaviour...

Neuroplasticity underpins motor learning, with abnormal neuroplasticity related to age-associated motor declines. Bilateral transfer of motor learning, through rehabilitation, may mitigate these declines, however the magnitude of transfer may be reduced in older populations. This study investigated excitatory and inhibitory pathways in the trained...

Introduction Classroom-based active breaks are a feasible and effective way to reduce and break up sitting time, and to potentially benefit physical health in school children. However, the effect of active breaks on children’s cognitive functions and brain activity remains unclear. Objective We investigated the impact of an active break interventi...

While strong inhibitory control is critical for health and wellbeing, there are no broadly applicable effective behavioural interventions that enhance it. This meta-analysis examined the neurocognitive rationale for combined physical and cognitive training and synthesised the rapidly growing body of evidence examining combined paradigms to enhance...

Stroke leads to both regional brain functional disruptions and network reorganization. However, how brain functional networks reconfigure as task demand increases in stroke patients and whether such reorganization at baseline would facilitate post-stroke motor recovery are largely unknown. To address this gap, brain functional connectivity (FC) wer...

Combined single-pulse transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) and electroencephalography (EEG) has been used to probe the features of local networks in the cerebral cortex. Here we investigate whether we can use this approach to explore long-range connections between the cerebellum and cerebral cortex. Ten healthy adults received single-pulse supra...

Background Classroom‐based active breaks can help typically developing children reduce sitting, increase physical activity and improve cognitive functions and on‐task behaviour. Yet, this strategy has not been tested in children with intellectual disability (ID) – a population who are insufficiently active. This study aimed to investigate the effec...

Objective Dual-tasking deficiencies are common in people with Huntington disease (HD) and contribute to reduced functional independence. To date, few studies have investigated the determinants of dual-tasking deficiencies in this population. The reliability of dual-tasking measures has also been poorly investigated in HD. The purpose of this study...

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.3389/fneur.2020.00948.].

Background Combined single-pulse transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) and electroencephalography (EEG) has been used to probe the features of local networks in the cerebral cortex. Here we investigate whether we can use this approach to explore long-range connections between the cerebellum and cerebral cortex. Objective To assess the feasibilit...

People with cognitive impairments show deficits during physical performances such as gait, in particular during cognitively-challenging conditions (i.e. dual-task gait [DTG]). However it is unclear if people at risk of dementia, such as those with subjective memory complaints (SMC), also display gait and central deficits associated with DTG. In thi...

Introduction: Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) has been shown to modulate cortical plasticity, enhance motor learning and post-stroke upper extremity motor recovery. It has also been demonstrated to facilitate activation of brain-computer interface (BCI) in stroke patients. We had previously demonstrated that BCI-assisted motor imager...

Parkinson's disease (PD) is characterized by motor and cognitive deficits that negatively impact on activities of daily living. While dopaminergic medications are used to attenuate motor symptoms, adjuvant therapies such as acoustic-based non-pharmacological interventions are used as a complement to standard drug treatments. At present, preliminary...

Strength is a fundamental component of athletic performance and development. This investigation examined the long-term strength development of powerlifting (PL) athletes. The rate of strength gain/day was assessed in 1897 PL athletes (F = 626, M = 1,271) over a 15-year period (2003–2018). Independent T-tests explored sex differences in baseline abs...

Background Huntington's disease (HD) is a chronic, progressive neurodegenerative condition for which there are currently no proven disease-modifying therapies. Lifestyle factors have been shown to impact on the age of disease onset and progression of disease features. We therefore investigated the effects of a nine-month multidisciplinary rehabilit...

Background Age-related cognitive decline may be delayed with appropriate interventions if those at high risk can be identified prior to clinical symptoms arising. Gait variability assessment has emerged as a promising candidate prognostic indicator, however, it remains unclear how sensitive gait variability is to early changes in cognitive abilitie...

The cerebellum sends dense projections to both motor and non-motor regions of the cerebral cortex via the cerebellarthalamocortical tract. The integrity of this tract is crucial for healthy motor and cognitive function. This systematic review examines research using transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) and transcranial direct current stimulation...

Objective To investigate the STRoke Interactive Virtual thErapy (STRIVE) intervention on upper-extremity clinical outcomes in community-dwelling stroke survivors. Design Assessor-blinded randomised controlled trial. Setting Study screening and testing was conducted in a University clinic. Participants completed the virtual therapy (VT) interventi...

Objectives: Serum neurofilament light protein (NfL) is a promising marker of disease onset and progression in Huntington's disease (HD). This study investigated associations between lifestyle factors and NfL levels in HD mutation carriers compared to healthy age- and sex-matched controls. Materials and methods: Participants included 29 HD mutati...

The 'Dual Hit' hypothesis, stating that Parkinson's disease (PD) begins via olfactory pathways and the gut, and the gastrointestinal symptoms PD individuals face, have largely driven the interest of the gut's involvement in PD. Studies have since observed gut microbiota differences between PD groups and controls, with these alterations potentially...

In this study, we investigated the effects of walking during single-task and dual-task gait (STG and DTG) conditions, on left prefrontal cortex (LPFC) activation in older adults with subjective memory complaints (SMC) and Dementia. A total of 72 older adults (aged 65-94 yrs; 33 Healthy; 28 SMC; 11 Dementia) were recruited from the community and ass...

Background Cluster sets (CSs) are a popular resistance training (RT) strategy categorised by short rest periods implemented between single or groups of repetitions. However, evidence supporting the effectiveness of CSs on acute intra-session neuromuscular performance is still equivocal. Objective The objective of this investigation was to determin...

Objective: This study assessed whether a multi-ingredient herbal supplement containing Bacopa monniera (BM), Panax quinquefolius ginseng (PQ) and whole coffee fruit extract (WCFE) could enhance cognitive performance and cerebral-cortical activation during tasks of working memory and attention. Method: In a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controll...

Studies in which single- and paired-pulse TMS was applied during motor task performance have shed considerable light on the functional relevance of popular TMS-derived neurophysiological biomarkers such as short-interval intracortical inhibition (SICI) and long-interval intracortical inhibition (LICI). While it has become well established that cort...

This study investigated effects of total sleep deprivation on self-paced endurance performance, and heart rate (HR) indices of athletes' “readiness to perform”. Endurance athletes (n = 13) completed a crossover experiment comprising a normal sleep (NS) and sleep deprivation (SD) condition. Each required completion of an endurance time-trial (TT) on...

Purpose: The cumulative influence of sleep time on endurance performance remains unclear. This study examined effects of three consecutive nights of both sleep extension and restriction on endurance cycling performance. Methods: Endurance cyclists/triathletes (n=9) completed a counterbalanced crossover experiment with three conditions; sleep res...

The ability to supress inappropriate or unwanted behaviour, known as inhibition, can be indexed using a variety of task paradigms, one of the more common being the Go/No-go task. Studies in which popular neuroimaging methods such as functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and electroencephalography (EEG) were used to measure neural activity du...

A reduction in short‐interval intracortical inhibition (SICI) has been shown to accompany acute or chronic resistance exercise, however little is known about how SICI is modulated under different contraction intensities. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to assess the effect of muscle contraction and conditioning stimulus intensity on the mo...

Background Rapid medical assessment and treatment of patients with transient ischemic attack (TIA) or stroke significantly reduces the risk of recurrent stroke. Previous research has shown that delays to initial medical assessment are due to lack of an urgent response to symptoms. In comparison to other communities living within the UK, South Asian...

Previous research showed that children’s physical activity is positively related to executive functions, whilst screen time shows negative associations. However, it is unclear how school-based sitting time and transitions from sitting to standing relate to cognition. We investigated the relationship between class time sitting/stepping/sit-to-stand...

Parkinson's disease (PD) is a heterogeneous neurodegenerative disorder that affects an estimated 10 million sufferers worldwide. The two forms of PD include familial and sporadic, and while the etiology of PD is still largely unknown, the condition is likely to be multifactorial with genetic and environmental factors contributing to disease genesis...