About Joyce
Postdoctoral Fellow, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School
Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Experimental Psychology and FMRIB, University of Oxford
PhD, Neurological Sciences, McGill University
BSc Physical Therapy, McGill University
Dr. Joyce Chen trained and practiced as a physiotherapist in Montreal, specializing in the rehabilitation of movement following brain injuries such as stroke. The brain has always fascinated her because of its remarkable ability to adapt and change in response to both injury and training. She earned her PhD at the Montreal Neurological Institute, McGill University, where her research elucidated the neural mechanisms underlying how humans synchronize their actions with sounds, such as tapping to the beat of music or dancing.
The goal of Dr. Chen's current research is to explore the limits of the brain’s plasticity. Through both fundamental and applied research approaches, she seeks to understand how far motor performance can be enhanced in musicians and athletes, while also identifying ways to promote brain plasticity to help people recovering from stroke improve their ability to move. Full bio at DiscoverResearch.
Motor learning
Music perception and production
Stroke motor recovery and rehabilitation
Neuroplasticity
Biomarkers
Swarbrick Dana, Kiss Alex, Trehub Sandra, Tremblay Luc, Alter David, Chen Joyce L. (2020).
HIIT the Road Jack: An Exploratory Study on the Effects of an Acute Bout of Cardiovascular High-Intensity Interval Training on Piano Learning, Frontiers in Psychology, 11.
Lam, T.K., Cheung, D.K., Climans, S.A., Black, S.E., Gao, F., Szilagyi, G.M., Mochizuki, G., Chen, J.L. (2020). Determining corticospinal tract injury from stroke using computed tomography. Canadian Journal of Neurological Sciences, 1-10.
Lam, T.K., Binns, M.A., Dawson, D.D., Honjo, K., Ross, B., Stuss, D.T., Black, S.E., Chen,
J.J., Fujioka, T., Chen, J.L. (2018). Variability in stroke motor outcome in explained by structural
and functional integrity of the motor system. Scientific Report, 8(1):9480
Chen, J.L. (2018). Music-supported therapy for stroke motor recovery\; Theoretical and practical
considerations. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences.
Fujioka, T., Wright, R., Chen, J.L., Chen, J.J., Black, S.E., Stuss, D.T., Dawson, D.R., Ross
B. (2018). The effects of music-supported rehabilitation on motor, cognitive, and psychosocial
functions in chronic stroke. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences.
Lam, T.K., Dawson, D.D., Honjo, K., Ross, B., Binns, M.A., Stuss, D.T., Black, S.E., Chen,
J.J., Levine, B.T., Fujioka, T., Chen, J.L. (2017). Neural coupling between contralesional motor
and frontoparietal networks correlates with motor ability in individuals with chronic stroke. Journal of
the Neurological Sciences, 384, 21-29.
Fujii, S., Lulic, T., Chen, J.L. (2016). More feedback is better than less: Learning a novel upper
limb joint coordination pattern with augmented auditory feedback. Frontiers in Neuroscience, 10, 251.
Chen, J.L., Fujii, S., Schlaug, G. (2016). The use of augmented auditory feedback to improve arm
reaching in stroke: a case series. Disability and Rehabilitation, 38(11), 1115-24.
Joyce Chen (PI), Mindy Levin, Robert Chen, Jodi Edwards, Sara McEwen, Gottfried Schlaug, Alexander Thiel, Rick Swartz, Alex Kiss. Towards a personalized approach to stroke motor recovery with transcranial direct current stimulation. Heart and Stroke Foundation, Grant-in-Aid.
Joyce Chen (PI). I hear movements: why motor brain regions are active when we listen to musical rhythms. Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, Discovery Grant.
American Society of Neurorehabilitation