Journal of Motor Behavior最新文献

Visual-motor illusion (VMI) is a kinesthetic illusion produced by viewing an image showing joint motion. VMI with enhanced joint movement intensity (power-VMI; P-VMI) is expected to activate a wide range of motor association brain regions, and when combined with electrical stimulation that activates the motor sensory cortex, further activation of brain activity can be expected. This study aimed to verify the effectiveness of VMI using functional near-infrared spectroscopy to confirm brain activity during combined P-VMI and electrical stimulation. Brain activity was measured in 15 healthy adults during three tasks performed on the left ankle joint: P-VMI with electrical stimulation, P-VMI alone, and electrical stimulation alone. The tasks were performed randomly on a single participant. Brain activity was measured during each task using a protocol comprising 15 s of rest, 30 s of task performance, and 30 s of follow-up. Regions of interest included motor-related areas. The results showed that P-VMI alone activated the right superior parietal lobule and left supramarginal gyrus more than P-VMI combined with electrical stimulation. These findings suggest that P-VMI and sensory-threshold electrical stimulation do not necessarily complement each other in enhancing brain activity, as P-VMI alone shows greater activation in specific motor-related brain regions.

Response abilities, i.e., response time (RT) and response force (RF), which are essential for efficient motor control, are impaired in children with intellectual disabilities (ID). The study aimed to evaluate the effects of object control skills training, computer-based games training, or standard care on the RT and RF of children with ID when measured across task conditions. A randomized controlled trial was conducted in a special education school where 75 children with ID, between 9 and 17 years of age, were randomly assigned to object control skills training, computer-based games training, or standard care, where intervention groups were provided thrice a week for four weeks. The RT and RF were measured using a response analyzer for simple response task, (passive and active) dual-task, and choice response task at baseline, post-intervention, and four-week follow-up. The RT significantly reduced with object control skills training (η_p²= .325) and computer-based games training (η_p²= .159). Participants who received the object control skills training had greater stability in force production than the other groups. With training, children with ID take less time and show better stability in their ability to modulate force in various task settings, with more pronounced effects with the object control skills training.

The reliance on vision to control a myoelectric prosthesis is cognitively burdensome and contributes to device abandonment. The feeling of uncertainty when gripping an object is thought to be the cause of this overreliance on vision in hand-related actions. We explored if experimentally reducing grip uncertainty alters the visuomotor control and mental workload experienced during initial prosthesis use. In a repeated measures design, twenty-one able-bodied participants took part in a pouring task across three conditions: (a) using their anatomical hand, (b) using a myoelectric prosthetic hand simulator, and (c) using a myoelectric prosthetic hand simulator with Velcro attached to reduce grip uncertainty. Performance, gaze behaviour (using mobile eye-tracking) and self-reported mental workload, was measured. Results showed that using a prosthesis (with or without Velcro) slowed task performance, impaired typical eye-hand coordination and increased mental workload compared to anatomic hand control. However, when using the prosthesis with Velcro, participants displayed better prosthesis control, more effective eye-hand coordination and reduced mental workload compared to when using the prosthesis without Velcro. These positive results indicate that reducing grip uncertainty could be a useful tool for encouraging more effective prosthesis control strategies in the early stages of prosthetic hand learning.

The benefits of allowing learners to control when to receive knowledge of results (KR) compared to a yoked group has been recently challenged and postulated to be mild at best. A potential explanation for such dissident findings is that individuals differentially utilize the autonomy provided by the self-controlled condition, which, in its turn, affects the outcomes. Therefore, the present study investigated the effects of self-controlled KR on motor learning focusing on the frequency of KR requests when performing an anticipatory timing task. Self-controlled groups were created based on participants' KR frequency of request (High, Medium, and Low referring to fifth, third, and first quintile) and, then, Yoked groups were created self-control condition pairing the KR request of the Self-controlled groups. We also measured self-efficacy and processing time as means to verify potential correlates. The results supported the expected interaction. While no difference between self-controlled and yoked groups were found for low frequencies of KR, a moderate amount of KR request was related to better results for the self-controlled group. Nonetheless, the opposite trend was observed for high frequencies of KR; the yoked group was superior to the self-controlled group. The results of this study allow us to conclude that the choices made, and not just the possibility of choosing, seem to define the benefits of KR self-control in motor learning.

Motor coordination is an important driver of development and improved coordination assessments could facilitate better screening, diagnosis, and intervention for children at risk of developmental disorders. Wearable sensors could provide data that enhance the characterization of coordination and the clinical utility of that data may vary depending on how sensor variables from different recording contexts relate to coordination. We used wearable sensors at the wrists to capture upper-limb movement in 85 children aged 6-12. Sensor variables were extracted from two recording contexts. Structured recordings occurred in the lab during a unilateral throwing task. Unstructured recordings occurred during free-living activity. The objective was to determine the influence of recording context (unstructured versus structured) and assessment type (direct vs. indirect) on the association between sensor variables and coordination. The greatest associations were between six sensor variables from the structured context and the direct measure of coordination. Worse coordination scores were associated with upper-limb movements that had higher peak magnitudes, greater variance, and less smoothness. The associations were consistent across both arms, even though the structured task was unilateral. This finding suggests that wearable sensors could be paired with a simple, structured task to yield clinically informative variables that relate to motor coordination.