Learning and Adaptation of Multi-Joint Arm Movements

描述(申请人提供)：一般任务，如处理一杯水。可能会成为脑损伤幸存者面临的严峻挑战。这些研究调查了健康的受试者在手臂与环境接触时如何控制手臂。了解神经系统如何学习控制与物体的互动在运动康复中非常重要，因为互动行为对日常生活的许多活动都是必不可少的。拟议的研究分为三个具体目标： 目的1：研究机械约束对上肢交互作用的控制。这些研究考察了如何通过触摸获得关于表面形状的信息，以及形状如何影响手在表面上的动作执行。受试者被要求在拿着一个机器人设备的同时移动他们的手，该设备可以重现各种形状的表面的力学。我们提出的假设是，首先。在缺乏视觉的情况下，手在曲面上的反复运动导致了一个适应过程，第二，这种适应通过运动轨迹的变化显示了对曲面几何形状的自动和隐含的学习。 目的2：了解具有内部自由度的物体的控制。这些研究旨在评估健康的受试者如何学会控制不僵硬的物体，例如，一桶水。实验追求的假设是，受试者通过练习对被操纵对象的内部表征而发展。通过这些表示，它们可以预测对象如何响应外力和运动。为了验证这一假设，这些研究利用了受试者与之互动的虚拟质量弹簧系统。 目的3：确定有效的训练原则，以提高与物体的熟练互动。本研究旨在评价不同训练方法对提高物体操作过程中手臂运动能力的效果。这些研究的重点是训练方法，这些方法可以增强一个人用手臂控制具有复杂动力学的对象的行为的能力。这些实验将测试三种训练方法的有效性：i)关于手的正确动作的明确信息；ii)关于控制动作有效性的孤立线索的呈现；以及iii)增强对被操纵对象整体行为的视觉反馈。

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.