Learning and Adaptation of Multi-Joint Arm Movements

描述（由申请人提供）：普通任务，如处理一杯水。可能成为脑损伤幸存者的艰难挑战。这些研究调查了健康受试者在接触环境时如何控制手臂。了解神经系统如何学会控制与物体的相互作用在运动康复中非常重要，因为互动行为对许多日常生活活动至关重要。拟议的研究分为三个具体目标： 目标1：研究上肢与机械约束相互作用的控制。这些研究探讨了如何通过触摸获得表面形状的信息，以及形状如何影响手部在表面上的运动。受试者被要求移动他们的手，同时持有一个机器人设备，再现具有可变形状的表面的力学。我们提出假设，首先。在没有视觉的情况下，手在曲面上的重复运动导致自适应过程，第二，该自适应通过运动轨迹的变化揭示了表面几何形状的自动和隐式学习。 目标2：了解对具有内部自由度的物体的控制。这些研究旨在评估健康受试者如何学会控制非刚性物体，例如，装满水的水桶。实验遵循的假设是，受试者通过练习对被操纵对象的内部表征而发展。这些表示使他们能够预测物体如何响应施加的力和运动。为了验证这一假设，这些研究利用了虚拟质量弹簧系统，受试者与之互动。 目标3：本研究旨在探讨不同的训练方法对提升手臂动作表现的效能。这些研究集中在训练方法上，这些方法可以提高一个人用手臂控制具有复杂动力学的物体行为的能力。实验将测试三种训练方法的功效：i）关于手的正确动作的明确信息; ii）关于控制动作的有效性的孤立线索的呈现;以及iii）关于被操纵对象的整体行为的视觉反馈的增强。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Ordinary tasks, such as handling a cup of water. may become hard challenges for the survivors of brain injury. These studies investigate how healthy subjects control the arm when it comes in contact with the environment. Understanding how the nervous system learns to control the interactions with objects is of great importance in motor rehabilitation because interactive behaviors are essential to many activities of daily living. The proposed research is divided in three specific aims: AIM 1: To investigate the control of upper extremity interactions with mechanical constraints.These studies investigate how information about the shape of a surface is acquired through touch and how shape affects the execution of hand movements over the surface. Subjects are asked to move their hand while holding a robotic device that reproduces the mechanics of surfaces with variable shape. We formulate the hypotheses that, first. in the absence of vision, repeated movements of the hand over a curved surface lead to an adaptive process and second, that adaptation reveals, through the change in movement trajectories, an automatic and implicit learning of the surface geometry. AIM 2: To understand the control of objects with internal degrees of freedom.These studies are aimed at assessing how healthy subjects learn to control objects that are not rigid, like, for instance, a bucket full of water. The experiments pursue the hypothesis that subjects develop through practice internal representation of the manipulated objects. These representations allow them to predict how objects respond to applied forces and motions. To test this hypothesis, these studies make use of virtual mass-spring systems with which subjects interact. AIM 3: To identify effective training principles for enhancing skillful interactions with objects.These studies are aimed at evaluating the efficacy of different training methods for enhancing arm movement performance during object manipulation. The studies focus on training methods that may enhance one's ability to control with their arm the behavior of objects with complex dynamics. The experiments will test the efficacy of three training methods: i) the explicit information about correct movements of the hand; ii) the presentation of isolated cues about the effectiveness of control actions, and iii) the enhancement of visual feedback on the overall behavior of a manipulated object.