Shemmell, Jonathan

Overview

My overarching goal in research is to understand how movement and balance can be improved through the induction of plasticity in the sensorimotor nervous system. In pursuit of this goal, I aim to (i) understand the contributions made by cortical and subcortical sensorimotor systems to movement and balance control and (ii) develop novel methods for inducing lasting and beneficial plasticity in sensory and motor elements of the central nervous system. The Neuromotor Adaptation Laboratory, which I lead, is equipped with a state-of-the-art suite of data capture systems to enable detailed study of human movement and balance control. The lab is capable of recording human motion and force generation in 3 dimensions, whole muscle and single motor unit activity, as well as being equipped for stimulation of cortical, subcortical and peripheral elements of the nervous system. Our lab works with physiotherapists, neurologists and neurosurgeons in the Wollongong region to develop clinically relevant neuromodulation solutions.

Keywords: human movement; motor control; neuromechanics; neuroscience; stroke rehabilitation; balance; learning; neural plasticity; transcranial magnetic stimulation; neurophysiology; electromyography; brainstem; spinal cord; reflexes

Top Publications

Year	Title
2020	Anticipatory postural control differs between low back pain and pelvic girdle pain patients in the absence of visual feedback Published in Human Movement Science
2019	Global Corticospinal Excitability as Assessed in A Non-Exercised Upper Limb Muscle Compared Between Concentric and Eccentric Modes of Leg Cycling Published in Scientific Reports
2019	The Effect of Paired Muscle Stimulation on Preparation for Movement Published in Journal of Motor Behavior
2018	The sensory origin of the sense of effort is context-dependent Published in Experimental Brain Research
2015	Interactions between stretch and startle reflexes produce task-appropriate rapid postural reactions Published in Frontiers in Integrative Neuroscience
2014	The effects of individualized theta burst stimulation on the excitability of the human motor system Published in Brain Stimulation

Research Areas

Available as Research Supervisor

Head Of

Neuromechanics Hub Co-Director 2018 -
Neuromotor Adaptation Laboratory Director 2018 -

Member Of

Neural Control of Movement Laboratory Member 2018 -

Has Collaborator

McAndrew, Darryl Available as Research Supervisor
Poh, Eugene PhD
Stapley, Paul Professor
Steele, Julie Honorary Professor

Selected Publications

Journal Article

Year	Title
2022	Novel Soft Haptic Biofeedback¿Pilot Study on Postural Balance and Proprioception^¿ Published In Sensors
2022	Postural support requirements preferentially modulate late components of the gastrocnemius response to transcranial magnetic stimulation Published In Experimental Brain Research
2022	Reliability and Variability of Lower Limb Muscle Activation as Indicators of Familiarity to Submaximal Eccentric Cycling Published In Frontiers in Physiology
2021	A Semi-recumbent Eccentric Cycle Ergometer Instrumented to Isolate Lower Limb Muscle Contractions to the Appropriate Phase of the Pedal Cycle Published In Frontiers in Physiology
2021	Reliability of a Protocol to Elicit Peak Measures Generated by the Lower Limb for Semi-recumbent Eccentric Cycling Published In Frontiers in Sports and Active Living
2020	Anticipatory postural control differs between low back pain and pelvic girdle pain patients in the absence of visual feedback Published In Human Movement Science
2020	Probing the neuromodulatory gain control system in sports and exercise sciences Published In Journal of Electromyography and Kinesiology
2020	Randomising stimulus intensity improves the variability and reliability of the assessment of corticospinal excitability Published In Journal of Neuroscience Methods
2019	Global Corticospinal Excitability as Assessed in A Non-Exercised Upper Limb Muscle Compared Between Concentric and Eccentric Modes of Leg Cycling Published In Scientific Reports
2019	The Effect of Paired Muscle Stimulation on Preparation for Movement Published In Journal of Motor Behavior
2018	Sex differences in anticipatory postural adjustments during rapid single leg lift Published In Human Movement Science
2018	The sensory origin of the sense of effort is context-dependent Published In Experimental Brain Research
2017	Differences between clinician- and self-administered shoulder sustained mobilization on scapular and shoulder muscle activity during shoulder abduction: A repeated-measures study on asymptomatic individuals Published In Musculoskeletal Science and Practice
2016	Calcium dependent plasticity applied to repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation with a neural field model Published In Journal of Computational Neuroscience
2016	Differences in Motor Evoked Potentials Induced in Rats by Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation under Two Separate Anesthetics: Implications for Plasticity Studies Published In Frontiers In Neural Circuits
2016	Downregulating Aberrant Motor Evoked Potential Synergies of the Lower Extremity Post Stroke during TMS of the Contralesional Hemisphere Published In Brain Stimulation
2016	Shoulder muscle activity during the modified dynamic relocation test and side-lying shoulder external rotation: a cross-sectional study on asymptomatic individuals Published In The Journal of Manual and Manipulative Therapy
2016	Understanding the effects of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation on neuronal circuits Published In Frontiers in Neural Circuits
2015	Interactions between stretch and startle reflexes produce task-appropriate rapid postural reactions Published In Frontiers in Integrative Neuroscience
2014	I walk through mud to get here Published In Scope
2014	Neuroscape Published In Scope
2014	Numerical modelling of plasticity induced by transcranial magnetic stimulation Published In Journal of Computational Neuroscience
2014	The effects of individualized theta burst stimulation on the excitability of the human motor system Published In Brain Stimulation
2014	The ipsilateral motor cortex does not contribute to long-latency stretch reflex amplitude at the wrist Published In Brain and Behavior
2014	Utility of intracerebral theta burst electrical stimulation to attenuate interhemispheric inhibition and to promote motor recovery after cortical injury in an animal model Published In Experimental Neurology
2013	Bilateral impairments in task-dependent modulation of the long-latency stretch reflex following stroke Published In Clinical Neurophysiology
2013	Instruction-dependent modulation of the long-latency stretch reflex is associated with indicators of startle Published In Experimental Brain Research
2010	Stretch sensitive reflexes as an adaptive mechanism for maintaining limb stability Published In Clinical Neurophysiology
2009	Kinetic and kinematic adaptation to anisotropic load Published In Experimental Brain Research
2009	Mechanical perturbations applied during impending movement evoke startle-like responses Published In Proceedings of the 31st Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society: Engineering the Future of Biomedicine, EMBC 2009
2009	The differential role of motor cortex in stretch reflex modulation induced by changes in environmental mechanics and verbal instruction Published In Journal of Neuroscience
2008	Resolving kinematic redundancy in target-reaching movements with and without external constraint Published In Experimental Brain Research
2007	Control of interjoint coordination during the swing phase of normal gait at different speeds Published In Journal of NeuroEngineering and Rehabilitation
2007	The effect of movement direction on joint torque covariation Published In Experimental Brain Research
2007	The role of the primary motor cortex during skill acquisition on a two-degrees-of-freedom movement task Published In Journal of Motor Behavior
2006	Neuromuscular-skeletal constraints on the acquisition of skill in a discrete torque production task Published In Experimental Brain Research
2005	Neuromuscular adaptation during skill acquisition on a two degree-of-freedom target-acquisition task: Dynamic movement Published In Journal of Neurophysiology
2005	Neuromuscular adaptation during skill acquisition on a two degree-of-freedom target-acquisition task: Isometric torque production Published In Journal of Neurophysiology
2002	Neural compensation for compliant loads during rhythmic movement Published In Experimental Brain Research
2001	Spontaneous transitions in the coordination of a whole body task Published In Human Movement Science
2001	Visual perception of action categories and the "bowl-throw" decision in cricket Published In Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport
1999	Wrist posture during computer pointing device use Published In Clinical Biomechanics

Chapter

Year	Title
2014	Greta: Weaving strands to allow Greta to flourish as Greta Published In Pedagogical Cases in Physical Education and Youth Sport Publisher London, United Kingdom
2008	Mechanisms Underlying Short-Term Motor Learning, Long-Term Motor Learning and Transfer Published In Advances in Psychology Publisher Elsevier

Conference Paper

Year	Title
2005	Effect of walking speed on coordination of gait: A PCA approach Published In JOURNAL OF SPORT & EXERCISE PSYCHOLOGY

Other Research Activities

The Winston and Maxine Wallin Neuroscience Discovery Fund: Development of a Non-invasive Approach to Test Cortico-brainstem Motor Pathways in Humans Associate Investigator 2017 - 2018
Brain Research NZ Centre of Research Excellence: Neuroscience of ageing Associate Investigator 2015 - 2017
NZ National Science Challenge: Implanted electrical stimulators to augment stroke recovery Co-Principal Investigator 2015 - 2017
Neurological Foundation of NZ: Optimising brain stimulation for motor learning Principal Investigator 2012 - 2014
Health Research Council of NZ: Fire together, wire together: sensory synchronisation to enhance stroke recovery Principal Investigator 2010 - 2012
Neurological Foundation of NZ grant: Bilateral cortical involvement in modulation of the long latency stretch reflex Principal Investigator 2010 - 2011
NIH R21 grant: The utility of rTMS to enhance hand function in stroke Principal Investigator 2006 - 2008

Available as Research Supervisor

Potential Supervision Topics

The role of brainstem motor pathways in balance regulation
Developing non-invasive probes of brainstem motor systems
The role of brainstem motor systems in adaptive upper limb movement control
Interactions between cortical and subcortical motor systems for predictive stabilisation during movement
Brainstem-mediated movement deficits following stroke
Neuromechanics of locomotor stability

Teaching Activities

MEDI258 Human Neuromechanics Coordinator 2019 -
MEDI330 Sensorimotor control Lecturer 2018 -
MEDI151 Healthy Ageing Lecturer

Advisees

Graduate Advising Relationship

Degree	Research Title	Advisee
Doctor of Philosophy	Improving footwear for netball players.	Kirk, Maddison
Doctor of Philosophy	Neurophysiological correlates of balance control	Difford, Nathan
Doctor of Philosophy	Role of supraspinal structures in the production of postural adjustments for upper limb movements during stance	Russell, Cassie

Top Publications

Year	Title
2020	Anticipatory postural control differs between low back pain and pelvic girdle pain patients in the absence of visual feedback Published in Human Movement Science
2019	Global Corticospinal Excitability as Assessed in A Non-Exercised Upper Limb Muscle Compared Between Concentric and Eccentric Modes of Leg Cycling Published in Scientific Reports
2019	The Effect of Paired Muscle Stimulation on Preparation for Movement Published in Journal of Motor Behavior
2018	The sensory origin of the sense of effort is context-dependent Published in Experimental Brain Research
2015	Interactions between stretch and startle reflexes produce task-appropriate rapid postural reactions Published in Frontiers in Integrative Neuroscience
2014	The effects of individualized theta burst stimulation on the excitability of the human motor system Published in Brain Stimulation

Research Areas

Head Of

Neuromechanics Hub Co-Director 2018 -
Neuromotor Adaptation Laboratory Director 2018 -

Member Of

Neural Control of Movement Laboratory Member 2018 -

Has Collaborator

McAndrew, Darryl Available as Research Supervisor
Poh, Eugene PhD
Stapley, Paul Professor
Steele, Julie Honorary Professor

Selected Publications

Journal Article

Year	Title
2022	Novel Soft Haptic Biofeedback¿Pilot Study on Postural Balance and Proprioception^¿ Published In Sensors
2022	Postural support requirements preferentially modulate late components of the gastrocnemius response to transcranial magnetic stimulation Published In Experimental Brain Research
2022	Reliability and Variability of Lower Limb Muscle Activation as Indicators of Familiarity to Submaximal Eccentric Cycling Published In Frontiers in Physiology
2021	A Semi-recumbent Eccentric Cycle Ergometer Instrumented to Isolate Lower Limb Muscle Contractions to the Appropriate Phase of the Pedal Cycle Published In Frontiers in Physiology
2021	Reliability of a Protocol to Elicit Peak Measures Generated by the Lower Limb for Semi-recumbent Eccentric Cycling Published In Frontiers in Sports and Active Living
2020	Anticipatory postural control differs between low back pain and pelvic girdle pain patients in the absence of visual feedback Published In Human Movement Science
2020	Probing the neuromodulatory gain control system in sports and exercise sciences Published In Journal of Electromyography and Kinesiology
2020	Randomising stimulus intensity improves the variability and reliability of the assessment of corticospinal excitability Published In Journal of Neuroscience Methods
2019	Global Corticospinal Excitability as Assessed in A Non-Exercised Upper Limb Muscle Compared Between Concentric and Eccentric Modes of Leg Cycling Published In Scientific Reports
2019	The Effect of Paired Muscle Stimulation on Preparation for Movement Published In Journal of Motor Behavior
2018	Sex differences in anticipatory postural adjustments during rapid single leg lift Published In Human Movement Science
2018	The sensory origin of the sense of effort is context-dependent Published In Experimental Brain Research
2017	Differences between clinician- and self-administered shoulder sustained mobilization on scapular and shoulder muscle activity during shoulder abduction: A repeated-measures study on asymptomatic individuals Published In Musculoskeletal Science and Practice
2016	Calcium dependent plasticity applied to repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation with a neural field model Published In Journal of Computational Neuroscience
2016	Differences in Motor Evoked Potentials Induced in Rats by Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation under Two Separate Anesthetics: Implications for Plasticity Studies Published In Frontiers In Neural Circuits
2016	Downregulating Aberrant Motor Evoked Potential Synergies of the Lower Extremity Post Stroke during TMS of the Contralesional Hemisphere Published In Brain Stimulation
2016	Shoulder muscle activity during the modified dynamic relocation test and side-lying shoulder external rotation: a cross-sectional study on asymptomatic individuals Published In The Journal of Manual and Manipulative Therapy
2016	Understanding the effects of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation on neuronal circuits Published In Frontiers in Neural Circuits
2015	Interactions between stretch and startle reflexes produce task-appropriate rapid postural reactions Published In Frontiers in Integrative Neuroscience
2014	I walk through mud to get here Published In Scope
2014	Neuroscape Published In Scope
2014	Numerical modelling of plasticity induced by transcranial magnetic stimulation Published In Journal of Computational Neuroscience
2014	The effects of individualized theta burst stimulation on the excitability of the human motor system Published In Brain Stimulation
2014	The ipsilateral motor cortex does not contribute to long-latency stretch reflex amplitude at the wrist Published In Brain and Behavior
2014	Utility of intracerebral theta burst electrical stimulation to attenuate interhemispheric inhibition and to promote motor recovery after cortical injury in an animal model Published In Experimental Neurology
2013	Bilateral impairments in task-dependent modulation of the long-latency stretch reflex following stroke Published In Clinical Neurophysiology
2013	Instruction-dependent modulation of the long-latency stretch reflex is associated with indicators of startle Published In Experimental Brain Research
2010	Stretch sensitive reflexes as an adaptive mechanism for maintaining limb stability Published In Clinical Neurophysiology
2009	Kinetic and kinematic adaptation to anisotropic load Published In Experimental Brain Research
2009	Mechanical perturbations applied during impending movement evoke startle-like responses Published In Proceedings of the 31st Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society: Engineering the Future of Biomedicine, EMBC 2009
2009	The differential role of motor cortex in stretch reflex modulation induced by changes in environmental mechanics and verbal instruction Published In Journal of Neuroscience
2008	Resolving kinematic redundancy in target-reaching movements with and without external constraint Published In Experimental Brain Research
2007	Control of interjoint coordination during the swing phase of normal gait at different speeds Published In Journal of NeuroEngineering and Rehabilitation
2007	The effect of movement direction on joint torque covariation Published In Experimental Brain Research
2007	The role of the primary motor cortex during skill acquisition on a two-degrees-of-freedom movement task Published In Journal of Motor Behavior
2006	Neuromuscular-skeletal constraints on the acquisition of skill in a discrete torque production task Published In Experimental Brain Research
2005	Neuromuscular adaptation during skill acquisition on a two degree-of-freedom target-acquisition task: Dynamic movement Published In Journal of Neurophysiology
2005	Neuromuscular adaptation during skill acquisition on a two degree-of-freedom target-acquisition task: Isometric torque production Published In Journal of Neurophysiology
2002	Neural compensation for compliant loads during rhythmic movement Published In Experimental Brain Research
2001	Spontaneous transitions in the coordination of a whole body task Published In Human Movement Science
2001	Visual perception of action categories and the "bowl-throw" decision in cricket Published In Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport
1999	Wrist posture during computer pointing device use Published In Clinical Biomechanics

Chapter

Year	Title
2014	Greta: Weaving strands to allow Greta to flourish as Greta Published In Pedagogical Cases in Physical Education and Youth Sport Publisher London, United Kingdom
2008	Mechanisms Underlying Short-Term Motor Learning, Long-Term Motor Learning and Transfer Published In Advances in Psychology Publisher Elsevier

Conference Paper

Year	Title
2005	Effect of walking speed on coordination of gait: A PCA approach Published In JOURNAL OF SPORT & EXERCISE PSYCHOLOGY

Other Research Activities

The Winston and Maxine Wallin Neuroscience Discovery Fund: Development of a Non-invasive Approach to Test Cortico-brainstem Motor Pathways in Humans Associate Investigator 2017 - 2018
Brain Research NZ Centre of Research Excellence: Neuroscience of ageing Associate Investigator 2015 - 2017
NZ National Science Challenge: Implanted electrical stimulators to augment stroke recovery Co-Principal Investigator 2015 - 2017
Neurological Foundation of NZ: Optimising brain stimulation for motor learning Principal Investigator 2012 - 2014
Health Research Council of NZ: Fire together, wire together: sensory synchronisation to enhance stroke recovery Principal Investigator 2010 - 2012
Neurological Foundation of NZ grant: Bilateral cortical involvement in modulation of the long latency stretch reflex Principal Investigator 2010 - 2011
NIH R21 grant: The utility of rTMS to enhance hand function in stroke Principal Investigator 2006 - 2008

Potential Supervision Topics

The role of brainstem motor pathways in balance regulation
Developing non-invasive probes of brainstem motor systems
The role of brainstem motor systems in adaptive upper limb movement control
Interactions between cortical and subcortical motor systems for predictive stabilisation during movement
Brainstem-mediated movement deficits following stroke
Neuromechanics of locomotor stability

Teaching Activities

MEDI258 Human Neuromechanics Coordinator 2019 -
MEDI330 Sensorimotor control Lecturer 2018 -
MEDI151 Healthy Ageing Lecturer

Advisees

Graduate Advising Relationship

Degree	Research Title	Advisee
Doctor of Philosophy	Improving footwear for netball players.	Kirk, Maddison
Doctor of Philosophy	Neurophysiological correlates of balance control	Difford, Nathan
Doctor of Philosophy	Role of supraspinal structures in the production of postural adjustments for upper limb movements during stance	Russell, Cassie

Orcid Id

http://orcid.org/0000-0002-4575-133X (confirmed)

Web Of Science Researcher Id

D-7737-2014

Scopus Id

6507023379

Overview

Overview

Top Publications

Research Areas

Available as Research Supervisor

Affiliation

Head Of

Member Of

Has Collaborator

Publications

Selected Publications

Journal Article

Chapter

Conference Paper

Funding

Other Research Activities

Supervision

Available as Research Supervisor

Potential Supervision Topics

Teaching Activities

Advisees

Graduate Advising Relationship

Identity

Orcid Id

Web Of Science Researcher Id

Scopus Id

Overview

Top Publications

Research Areas

Affiliation

Head Of

Member Of

Has Collaborator

Publications

Selected Publications

Journal Article

Chapter

Conference Paper

Funding

Other Research Activities

Supervision

Potential Supervision Topics

Teaching Activities

Advisees

Graduate Advising Relationship

Identity

Orcid Id

Web Of Science Researcher Id

Scopus Id

Visualisations

Research Areas