CRCNS US-Japan Research Proposal: A computational neuroscience approach to skill acquisition and transfer from visuo-haptic VR to the real-world

学习运动技能的能力使人们能够进行日常生活中的关键活动(走路、穿衣、做饭等)。它还使人们能够从事社会和艺术努力，对一些人来说，还可以达到大师级的表演水平。了解我们学习运动技能时大脑发生的变化，以及我们如何制定训练计划来加速这种学习，将对许多领域产生影响，包括机器人训练和人-机器人互动中的技能获得，肢体截肢者的运动技能重新学习，以及运动障碍如肌张力障碍和步态障碍的康复。关于运动学习的研究往往局限于高度简化的任务；很少有研究试图研究复杂的技能学习。目前的研究项目旨在开发一个复杂技能学习的神经行为模型，通过在参与者学习现实世界活动时实时整合来自大脑活动和身体运动的信息。第二个目标是研究如何加强复杂运动技能的学习。研究人员开发了新的视觉-触觉虚拟现实(VR)系统，允许与虚拟对象进行详细的交互，并完成力反馈，以提供令人信服的真实世界模拟，但具有更精细的实验控制。这种创造性的VR环境还可以模拟引力场的变化，从而允许使用神经行为模型来预测和测试非标准环境中的人类行为，例如在太空或水下应用中。预计这类研究将非常容易获得并吸引更广泛的公众，研究人员已经提出了一系列外联计划，以加强在这些科学中通常代表不足的群体对STEM的参与。日本国家信息和通信技术研究所(NICT)正在资助一个配套项目。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The ability to learn motor skills allows people to perform critical activities of daily life (walking, dressing, cooking, etc.). It also enables people to engage in social and artistic endeavors and for some to attain virtuoso levels of performance. Understanding the changes that occur in the brain as we learn a motor skill and how we might develop training programs to accelerate such learning, would have impact for many areas, including skill acquisition in robotic training and human-robot interaction, motor skill re-learning in limb amputees, and rehabilitation of motor disorders such as dystonia and gait disorders.Studies of motor learning are often restricted to highly simplified tasks; few studies have tried to study complex skill learning. The current research project aims to develop a neurobehavioral model of complex skill learning by integrating information from both brain activity and body movement in real time as participants learn real-world activities. The second aim studies ways to enhance learning of complex motor skills. The investigators have developed new visuo-haptic virtual reality (VR) systems that allow detailed interaction with virtual objects, complete with force feedback, to provide a convincing simulation of the real-world but with finer experimental control. This creative VR environment also can simulate changes in the gravitational field which allows using the neurobehavioral model to predict and test human behavior in non-standard environments, such as in space or in underwater applications. Such research is expected to be highly accessible and engaging for the broader public, and the researchers have proposed a range of outreach plans to enhance participation in STEM among groups typically under-represented in these sciences. A companion project is being funded by the National Institute of Information and Communications Technology, Japan (NICT).This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.