Scholar Profiles
Samantha Sell
2003 - 2004 University Scholar
Mentor: Kenneth Heilman
College of Medicine
"I applied to the USP to provide context and structure for my interest in participating in a research project. I was unsure about how to begin a project with only a general idea of what I would like to work on. I hope to learn more about neurological disorders that elderly people often suffer from, such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease."
Samantha is a senior majoring in agricultural and biological engineering. She is graduating in December 2003 and plans to attend medical school. A Florida Bright Futures Scholar, Samantha’s academic interests include anatomy, mathematics and genetics. She is a member of the American Medical Student Association, the American Society of Agricultural Engineers and the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. Samantha enjoys volunteering for Equal Access Health Care Clinic and Park Place Assisted Living Facility.
Research Description:
Hand Dependence
The Hand Dependence Test, devised by Dr. Ken Heilman, is a bimanual line drawing task that I administered to a control group of participants. The purpose of the test is to demonstrate hemispheric control of the hands, and whether signals from the brain to the hands are parallel or reversed. Past studies have found a tendency toward mirror movements in bimanual circle drawing tasks the experiment I am conducting may support this evidence using a line drawing task. The goal of this research is also to investigate possible interaction of the brain’s hemispheres during bimanual limb movements. The hypotheses that Dr. Heilman proposed for this experiment will be tested by performing statistical analyses of the data collected. The overall purpose of testing brain function in normal individuals is to gain a better understanding of the causes and effects of apraxia, or the loss of motor control, in people with neurological disorders or damage to certain areas of the brain.
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