Effect of Real-time Visual Trajectory Feedback on Upper Limb Movement Learning / 中国康复理论与实践

ABSTRACT

Objective:To explore the effect of real-time visual trajectory feedback on the motor learning ability of healthy volunteers during upper limb circle-drawing movements by using rehabilitation robots. Methods:From July to September, 2018, 24 right-handed healthy volunteers were divided into two groups according to the baseline level of motor ability, one group received three kinds of feedbacks including visual, result and real-time trajectory feedbacks (V+KP+KR group), and the other group only received two kinds of feedbacks including visual and performance (V+KR group). Both groups were trained in clockwise circle drawing task under different conditions for five sessions, 20 times per session, and then underwent one session of maintenance test after three days. The motor learning processes of two groups were evaluated and analyzed by two parameters including roundness score and completion time. Results:By using two-factor repeated measures variance analysis, it was found that there were intergroup and intragroup interactions (F = 6.029, P < 0.001). The intergroup individual effects showed that except for the fifth training section (F = 8.775, P = 0.658), the values of roundness score in other sessions were higher in V+KP+KR group than in V+KR group (F > 13.126, P < 0.001). The intragroup individual effects showed that there were significant differences among sessions in both groups (F > 12.465, P < 0.001). For completion time, there was no intergroup and intragroup interactions (F = 1.606, P = 0.228), the intergroup main effect was not significant (F = 0.55, P = 0.477), and the intragroup main effect was significant (F = 3.95, P = 0.031). Conclusion:Real-time trajectory feedback can help volunteers quickly understand the essentials of motor tasks at the early stage of motor learning, thus helping them to improve the fast learning ability of new tasks, but the improvement effect on motor learning during middle and late stages is not obvious. The dependence of volunteers on real-time trajectory feedback gradually decreases in the middle and later stages of motor learning, and they might rely on proprioception to complete tasks.