Substituting some unassisted practice with robotic guidance: Assessing the feasibility of auditory-cued mixed practice for music-based interventions.

Journal: NeuroRehabilitation
Published Date:

Abstract

BACKGROUND: There is equivocal evidence regarding the effectiveness of robotic guidance on the (re)learning of voluntary motor skills. Robotic guidance can improve the performance of continuous/ tracking skills, although being seldom more effective than unassisted practice alone. However, most of the previous studies employed robotic guidance on all intervention trials. Recently, we showed that mixing robotic guidance with unassisted practice (i.e., mixed practice) can significantly improve the learning of a golf putting task. Yet, these mixed practice studies involved self-paced movements in a standing posture, thus less applicable to rehabilitation contexts.

Authors

  • Amin Mostofinejad
    Faculty of Kinesiology and Physical Education, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.
  • Rachel Goodman
    Faculty of Kinesiology and Physical Education, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.
  • Tristan Loria
    Faculty of Music, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.
  • Michael Thaut
    Faculty of Music, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.
  • Luc Tremblay
    Faculty of Kinesiology and Physical Education, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.