Effects of Physical Practice and Imagery Practice on Bilateral Transfer in Learning a Sequential Tapping Task.

William M Land,Binya Liu,Alberto Cordova,Yufei Huang,Ming Fang,Wan X Yao,Lutz Jaencke

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0152228

William M Land, Binya Liu + Show 5 more

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https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0152228

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Abstract

Recent research on bilateral transfer suggests that imagery training can facilitate the transfer of motor skill from a trained limb to that of an untrained limb above and beyond that of physical practice. To further explore this effect, the present study examined the influence of practice duration and task difficulty on the extent to which imagery training and physical training influences bilateral transfer of a sequential key pressing task. In experiment 1, participants trained on the key pressing task using their non-dominant arm under one of three conditions (physical practice, imagery practice, and no practice). In a subsequent bilateral transfer test, participants performed the sequential task using their untrained dominant arm in either an original order or mirror-ordered sequence. In experiment 2, the same procedures were followed as in experiment 1 except that participants trained with their dominant arm and performed the bilateral transfer task with their non-dominant arm. Results indicated that with extended practice beyond what has been employed in previous studies, physical practice is more effective at facilitating bilateral transfer compared to training with imagery. Interestingly, significant bilateral transfer was only observed for transfer from the non-dominant to the dominant arm with no differences observed between performing the task in an original or mirror ordered sequence. Overall, these findings suggest that imagery training may benefit bilateral transfer primarily at the initial stages of learning, but with extended training, physical practice leads to larger influences on transfer.

Highlights

Bilateral transfer, referred to as intermanual transfer or cross-education, is a phenomenon whereby experience obtained by a trained limb has an impact on the untrained contralateral homologous limb
The study by Amemiya, Ishizu [14] in learning a sequence-tapping task indicated a strong and significant advantage of imagery practice over physical practice when performed with the trained limb and during bilateral transfer with the untrained limb
While acknowledging the potential interference of physical practice coupled with the complexity of the task, we proposed that an extended practice period would eliminate and/or reduce the interference caused by physical practice

Summary

Introduction

Referred to as intermanual transfer or cross-education, is a phenomenon whereby experience obtained by a trained limb has an impact on the untrained contralateral homologous limb. The study by Amemiya, Ishizu [14], which required learning a sequential tapping task within a short training period (~5 min), showed a strong and significant advantage for imagery practice over physical practice in performances with both the trained limb (i.e., retention test) and untrained limb on a mirror-order test (i.e., bilateral transfer). This finding is consistent with previous studies [9, 16] that have reported an advantage for imagery practice over physical practice for tasks characterized by a high degree of complexity and cognitive demands. The surface EMG recordings of each individual’s EDC muscles were taken for the purpose of checking if significant coactivity from the muscle on the non-trained hand occurred when the trained hand was performing

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General Discussion