Dr Leif Johannsen

Honorary Senior Research Fellow

School of Psychology

Contact details

University of Birmingham
Edgbaston
Birmingham
B15 2TT
UK

About

Dr Johannsen’s reseach interests cover a range of topics related to the control of body balance, posture and gait: ageing, stroke, cognition-motor interference, interpersonal postural coordination, 'light touch' effects on balance, and neurorehabilitation.

Qualifications

  • Dipl.-Psych. (Potsdam, Germany)
  • Dr. rer. nat. (Tuebingen, Germany)

Research

Dr Johannsen’s current projects investigate cognitive demands of performing periodic bilateral lower-extremity movements (seated and standing) as well as factors affecting interpersonal postural coordination and entrainment with light touch; in other words: if two individuals touch each other lightly what 'postural' information is exchanged between both individuals, respectively does touching somebody else make one's own balance more stable?

Publications

1. Johannsen L, Wing A and Hatzitaki V. Contrasting effects of finger and shoulder interpersonal light touch on standing balance. J Neurophysiol, in press.

2. Guzman-Garcia A, Johannsen L, Wing A. Dance exercise for older adults: a pilot study investigating body sway following a single lesson of Danzón. American Journal of Dance Therapy, in press.

3. Sofianidis G, Hatzitaki V, Grouios G, Johannsen L, Wing A. Somatosensory driven interpersonal synchrony during rhythmic sway. Human Movement Science, in press.

4. Wing AM, Johannsen L, Endo S. Light touch for balance: influence of a time-varying external driving signal. Phil Trans R Soc B, in press.

5. Zietz D, Johannsen L, Hollands M. Stepping characteristics and centre of mass control during stair descent: effects of age, fall risk and visual factors. Gait and Posture, 34: 279-284, 2011.

6. Karnath HO, Rennig J, Johannsen L, Rorden C. The anatomy underlying acute versus chronic spatial neglect: a longitudinal study. Brain, 134: 903-912, 2011.

7. Pelton T, Johannsen L, Chen H, Wing A. Hemiparetic stepping to the beat: Asymmetric response to metronome phase shift during treadmill gait. Neurorehabil Neural Repair, 24: 428-434, 2010.

8. Johannsen L, Wing A, Pelton T, Kitaka K, Zietz D, Brittle N, van Vliet P, Riddoch J, Sackley C, McManus R. Seated bilateral leg exercise effects on hemiparetic lower extremity function in chronic stroke. Neurorehabil Neural Repair, 24: 243-53, 2010.

9. Johannsen L, Guzman-Garcia A, Wing A. Interpersonal light touch assists balance in the elderly. Journal of Motor Behaviour, 41: 397-399, 2009.

10. Fruhmann Berger M, Johannsen L, Karnath HO. Subcortical neglect is not always a transient phenomenon: Evidence from a 1-year follow-up study. J Clin Exp Neuropsychol 31: 617-623, 2009.

11. Fruhmann Berger M, Johannsen L, Karnath HO. Time course of eye and head deviation in spatial neglect. Neuropsychology 22: 697-702, 2008.

12. Karnath HO, Suchan J, Johannsen L. Pusher syndrome after ACA territory infarction. Eur J Neurol 15: e84-5, 2008.

13. Johannsen L, Wing A and Hatzitaki V. Effects of maintaining touch contact on predictive and reactive balance. J Neurophysiol 97: 2686-2695, 2007.

14. Natale E, Marzi CA, Bricolo E, Johannsen L and Karnath HO. Abnormally speeded saccades to ipsilesional targets in patients with spatial neglect. Neuropsychologia 45: 263-272, 2007.

15. Johannsen L, Broetz D and Karnath HO. Leg orientation as a clinical sign for pusher syndrome. BMC Neurol 6: 30, 2006.

16. Johannsen L, Broetz D, Naegele T and Karnath HO. "Pusher syndrome" following cortical lesions that spare the thalamus. J Neurol 253: 455-463, 2006.

17. Johannsen L, Fruhmann Berger M and Karnath HO. Subjective visual vertical (SVV) determined in a representative sample of 15 patients with pusher syndrome. J Neurol 253: 1367-1369, 2006.

18. Karnath HO, Johannsen L, Broetz D and Kuker W. Posterior thalamic hemorrhage induces "pusher syndrome". Neurology 64: 1014-1019, 2005.

19. Karnath HO, Zopf R, Johannsen L, Fruhmann Berger M, Nagele T and Klose U. Normalized perfusion MRI to identify common areas of dysfunction: patients with basal ganglia neglect. Brain 128: 2462-2469, 2005.

20. Broetz D, Johannsen L and Karnath HO. Time course of 'pusher syndrome' under visual feedback treatment. Physiother Res Int 9: 138-143, 2004.

21. Johannsen L and Karnath HO. How efficient is a simple copying task to diagnose spatial neglect in its chronic phase? J Clin Exp Neuropsychol 26: 251-256, 2004.

22. Johannsen L, Ackermann H and Karnath HO. Lasting amelioration of spatial neglect by treatment with neck muscle vibration even without concurrent training. J Rehabil Med 35: 249-253, 2003.

23. Karnath HO, Johannsen L, Broetz D, Ferber S and Dichgans J. Prognosis of contraversive pushing. J Neurol 249: 1250-1253, 2002.

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