Cognitive-motor performance assessment during in-person and remote practice of action sequences

Abstract

The development and use of virtual systems to learn and perform remotely complex action sequences has many applications from rehabilitation to military training. The examination of human cognitive-motor control and learning processes in individuals executing a task physically in-person and remotely via a virtual system can help with the design of such systems as well as inform human performance. An important application of such virtual systems is the remote assessment of cognitive-motor performance and learning for the neurorehabilitation of individuals with neural deficits (e.g., Veterans). This study is a first step that examined performance, mental workload, and fatigue in healthy individuals during remote practice of action sequences compared to physical in-person training. Here individuals were either required to practice an action sequence task physically (in the lab) or remotely (outside the lab) via a virtual system. Action sequence performance, mental workload and fatigue were collected for both remote and physical practice. Findings suggest that remote training via a virtual system improved performance and reduced mental workload leading to enhanced cognitive-motor efficiency similarly to physical practice, while limited practice-induced fatigue effects were observed. To extend this study, future work will consider varying interface characteristics and using EEG with various healthy and clinical populations.