The role of haptics in motor learning and forgetting

我的目标是了解我们如何促进运动技能的获得，并了解更多关于运动技能长期保持的机制。也就是说，在我们学习了一项技能后，哪些因素会影响我们忘记这项技能--它们是不是影响一项技能学习速度的相同因素？遗忘曲线与学习曲线相似吗？我们对技能保留的大多数理解都集中在短期内(即最初练习后的几个小时、几天或几周)。然而，在日常生活中，我们学习的技能是一生都要掌握的。最明显的例子是骑自行车，但其他例子包括被认证为执行特定临床技能的医生。如果很长一段时间没有执业，医生还能胜任吗？过度学习能防止或减缓遗忘吗？触觉反馈在这些学习和遗忘过程中的作用将被讨论。更具体地说，触觉或触觉在指导中的作用将在习得和长期保持(最初习得后几个月甚至几年)两个阶段进行考察。当人类参与者在上述训练条件下学习执行各种熟练动作时，将使用行为方法来测量结果或进行上肢运动的过程。学习的技能将包括各种复杂的任务，从简单的实验室技能到非常复杂的技术临床技能，如缝合或进行结肠镜检查。研究这一范围的技能复杂性可以解决运动学习模型的概括性问题。这项工作将有助于我们从理论上理解运动学习和遗忘的过程。但是，本研究也具有实际应用价值。我们的发现对许多进行运动技能练习的环境(例如，工作或工业环境、医疗保健、军事、康复、体育、音乐)具有影响，并可能节省培训费用、提高生产率和改善安全性。

My goal is to understand how we can facilitate the acquisition of motor skills and to learn more about the mechanisms of long term retention of motor skills. That is, after we have learned a skill, what are the factors that influence the forgetting of that skill - are they the same factors that influence how quickly a skill is learned? Is the forgetting curve similar to the learning curve? The majority of our understanding of skill retention has focused on the short term (i.e., hours, days or weeks after initial practice). However, in everyday life we learn skills that are performed over a lifetime. The obvious example is riding a bike, but other examples include the physician who is certified to perform a particular clinical skill. If a long period goes by without practice, is the physician still competent? Does over learning prevent or slow down the forgetting? The role of touch feedback during these processes of learning and forgetting will be addressed. More specifically, the role of touch or haptics in guidance will be examined both during acquisition and long-term retention (months and even years after initial acquisition). A behavioural approach will be used where the outcome, or process of making upper limb movements, will be measured as human participants learn to perform various skilled movements under the above-mentioned training conditions. The skills studied will include tasks of varying complexity ranging from simple laboratory skills to very complex technical clinical skills such as suturing or performing a colonoscopy. Studying this range of skill complexity allows the generalizability of models of motor learning to be addressed. This work will contribute to our theoretical understanding of the processes of motor learning and forgetting. However, this research also has practical application. Our findings have implications for many environments where motor skills are performed (e.g., work or industrial environments, health care, military, rehabilitation, sports, music) and could potentially save training dollars, increase productivity, and improve safety.