Dr Charles Worringham

This person does not currently hold a position at QUT.
Biography
Project HighlightsDr Worringham's recent research centres on some specific issues in the fields of motor control and learning, and movement disorders, and he is also participating in studies of workplace injury.
Research Areas
- Visuomotor AdaptationStimulus
- Response Compatibility (SRC)
- Movement Disorders
- Motor Learning and Control
- Workplace Injury
1. Visuomotor Adaptation
Researchers:
Dr Charles Worringham, Prof. Otmar Bock (DSHS, Köln , Germany )
Research Summary:
When the normal relationships between a limb movement’s actual direction and its apparent direction differ (as occurs, for example, when a person views their arm movements through a prism), fairly rapid and relatively automatic adaptation occurs, and has been a valuable window on mechanisms of motor learning. Visuomotor adaptation has much in common with some aspects of stimulus-response compatibility (see next section), and together, we are exploring this overlap. Although the experiments address fundamental adaptive processes, a longer-term goal is to improve safety in the operation of equipment where incompatible movement relationships exist, or which require visuomotor adaptation.
Publications:
Bock O, Worringham C, Thomas M (2005 in press) Concurrent adaptation of left and right arm to opposite visual distortions. Experimental Brain Research.
2. Stimulus Response Compatibility (SRC)
Dr Charles Worringham, Dr Graham Kerr
When movements must be made in response to visual or other stimuli, and the relationship between them is unexpected or unnatural (such as having to press a button on the left in response to a light on the right, or vice versa), then the stimulus-response arrangement is said to be incompatible. Exploring the underlying mechanisms provides important information about response selection generally, as well as leading to principles that can be embedded in the design of potentially dangerous equipment. Recent work has focussed on three areas: establishing basic principles of directional stimulus compatibility, determining the contribution of proprioceptive inputs in SRC tasks, and, with recent Honours student Felicia Stokes, examining candidate brain mechanisms of SRC using trans-cranial magnetic stimulation.
Publications:
Worringham CJ, Kerr GK (2000). Proprioception and stimulus response compatibility. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology. 53A:69-83
Worringham CJ, Beringer DB (1998).Directional stimulus-response compatibility: A test of three alternative principles. Ergonomics, 41:864-880.
Stokes, F.K. (2001). The influence of suprathreshold transcranial magnetic stimulation of the motor and parietal cortices on the performance of a stimulus-response compatibility task. (Unpublished Honours thesis). Supervisors: C.Worringham and G. Kerr.
3. Movement Disorders
A long-term interest in Parkinson’s disease has more recently focussed on motor learning in this condition (as well as cerebellar disease), and on the use of motor, visual and cognitive measures as predictors of driving ability in Parkinson’s disease.
Publications:
Wood, JM, Worringham C, Kerr G, Mallon K, Silburn P. (2005). Quantitative assessment of driving performance in Parkinson’s disease. Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery, & Psychiatry. 76:176-180.
Smiley-Oyen AL , Worringham CJ, Cross CL (2003). Motor learning in a movement scaling task in olivopontocerbellar atrophy and Parkinson’s disease. Experimental Brain Research. 152:453-465.
Smiley-Oyen AL ; Worringham CJ; Cross CL (2002). Practice effects in three-dimensional sequential rapid aiming in Parkinson's disease. Movement Disorders. 17:1196-204.
Woolley DM. (2003). Motor learning and adaptation in cerebellar disease. (Unpublished Honours thesis). Supervisors: C.Worringham and G. Kerr.
4. Motor Learning and Control
Publications:
Smiley-Oyen AL , Worringham CJ (2001). Peripheral constraint versus on-line programming in rapid aimed sequential movements. Acta Psychologica 108:219-245.
Howard JT III (2003). Physical guidance in motor learning. (Unpublished Honours thesis). Supervisors: C.Worringham and G. Kerr.
5. Workplace Injury
In the last three years I have assisted Prof, Tony Parker with a series of projects concerning injury prevention in the workplace, most particularly in the coal-mining industry.
Publications:
Parker, A.W. & Worringham, C. (2004). Fitness for work in mining: not a ‘one size fits all’ approach. Queensland Mining Industry Health & Safety Conference 2004: Sustaining our future . Townsville, Qld, 15-18 August 2004, pp. 27-31.
Parker, A.W. & Worringham, C. (2004). Managing the ageing workforce: Issues and opportunities for the Queensland coal mining industry. Queensland Mining Industry Health & Safety Conference 2004: Sustaining our future. Townsville, Qld, 15-18 August 2004, pp. 9-12.
Grants
2005 – 2006
- $224,198 - Parker A, Worringham C., Smeathers J. Burgess-Limerick, R., Short and long-term adaptations to work in coal mining: towards a sustainable injury-free workforce. Injury Prevention and Control, Australia, Ltd.
2004 – 2005
- $110,235 - Parker A, Worringham C. Age-related changes in work ability and injury risk in underground and open cut coal miners. Australian Coal Research Ltd.
2003 – 2004
- $100,487 - Parker A, Worringham C, Hubinger L. Evaluation of workload distribution in underground mining and the development of strategies to reduce overuse injury. Coal Services Pty Ltd.
2003 – 2005
- $27,068 - Worringham CJ, Bock O. Visuomotor Adaptation and Stimulus-Response Compatibility: Basic mechanisms and Improved Safety of Heavy Equipment. ARC Linkage International Award
2001 - 2003
- $128,976 - Worringham CJ, Kerr GK. Directional stimulus response compatibility. ARC Large Grant.
2001 – 2002
- $50,000 - Worringham C, Kerr G, Wood J, Silburn P. Prediction of driving performance in Parkinson’s disease. Motor Accident Insurance Commission Road Accident Prevention and Road Safety Research Grant.
Personal details
Keywords
Ergonomics, Falls, balance & postural control, Human factors, Human motor control, learning & performance, Movement disorders, especially Parkinsona??s Disease, Skill acquisition, Stimulus-response compatibility
Discipline
Human Movement and Sports Science
Field of Research code, Australian and New Zealand Standard Research Classification (ANZSRC), 2008
Qualifications
- PhD (Physical Education) (University of Wisconsin, Madison)
Professional memberships and associations
Member
The Ergonomics Society of Australia
Member
The Australian and New Zealand Society of Biomechanics
Member
The Australasian Society for Experimental Psychology
Treasurer
Teaching
Unit Coordinator
- HMB379 Disorders of Human Movement
Undergraduate Teaching
- HMB379 Disorders of Human Movement
- HMB271 Foundations of Motor Control, Learning, and Development
- HMB276 Research in Human Movement
- HMB371 Motor Control and Learning 2
Undergraduate Tutoring
- HMB276 Research in Human Movement
Selected publications
- Deforche B, Hills A, Worringham C, Davies P, Murphy A, Bouckaert J, De Bourdeaudhuij I, (2009) Balance and postural skills in normal-weight and overweight prepubertal boys, Pediatric Obesity, 4 (3), pp. 175-182.
- Townshend A, Worringham C, Stewart I, (2008) Assessment of speed and position during human locomotion using nondifferential GPS, Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, 40 (1), pp. 124-132.
- Worringham C, Wood J, Kerr G, Silburn P, (2006) Predictors of Driving Assessment Outcome in Parkinson's Disease, Movement Disorders, 21 (2), pp. 230-235.
- Bock O, Worringham C, Thomas M, (2005) Concurrent Adaptations of Left and Right Arms to Opposite Visual Distortions, Experimental Brain Research, 162 (4), pp. 513-519.
- Wood J, Worringham C, Kerr G, Mallon K, Silburn P, (2005) Quantitative Assessment of Driving Performance in Parkinson's Disease, Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry, 76 (2), pp. 176-180.
- Kerr G, Worringham C, Silburn P, (2004) Sensory and motor function in Parkinson's disease and their relationship to balance and falls., Presented at: Australian Falls Prevention Conferencde.
- Smiley-Oyen A, Worringham C, Cross C, (2003) Motor Learning Processes In A Movement-Scaling Task In Olivopontocerebellar Atrophy And Parkinson's Disease, Experimental Brain Research, 152 (4), pp. 453-465.
- Worringham C, (2002) Motor Learning in Four Movement Disorders, Presented at: 3rd World Congress in Neurological Rehabilitation, pp. 197.
QUT ePrints
For more publications by Charles, explore their research in QUT ePrints (our digital repository).