Short Term Motor-Skill Acquisition Improves with Size of Self-Controlled Virtual Hands.

ABSTRACT: Visual feedback in general, and from the body in particular, is known to influence the performance of motor skills in humans. However, it is unclear how the acquisition of motor skills depends on specific visual feedback parameters such as the size of performing effector. Here, 21 healthy subjects physically trained to perform sequences of finger movements with their right hand. Through the use of 3D Virtual Reality devices, visual feedback during training consisted of virtual hands presented on the screen, tracking subject's hand movements in real time. Importantly, the setup allowed us to manipulate the size of the displayed virtual hands across experimental conditions. We found that performance gains increase with the size of virtual hands. In contrast, when subjects trained by mere obs

SUBMITTER: Ossmy O 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5215900 | biostudies-literature | 2017

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature