Abstract
Motor-learning literature focuses on simple laboratory-tasks due to their controlled manner and the ease to apply manipulations to induce learning and adaptation. Recently, we introduced a billiards paradigm and demonstrated the feasibility of real-world-neuroscience using wearables for naturalistic full-body motion-tracking and mobile-brain-imaging. Here we developed an embodied virtual-reality (VR) environment to our real-world billiards paradigm, which allows to control the visual feedback for this complex real-world task, while maintaining sense of embodiment. The setup was validated by comparing real-world ball trajectories with the trajectories of the virtual balls, calculated by the physics engine. We then ran our short-term motor learning protocol in the embodied VR. Subjects played billiard shots when they held the physical cue and hit a physical ball on the table while seeing it all in VR. We found comparable short-term motor learning trends in the embodied VR to those we previously reported in the physical real-world task. Embodied VR can be used for learning real-world tasks in a highly controlled environment which enables applying visual manipulations, common in laboratory-tasks and rehabilitation, to a real-world full-body task. Embodied VR enables to manipulate feedback and apply perturbations to isolate and assess interactions between specific motor-learning components, thus enabling addressing the current questions of motor-learning in real-world tasks. Such a setup can potentially be used for rehabilitation, where VR is gaining popularity but the transfer to the real-world is currently limited, presumably, due to the lack of embodiment.
Highlights
Motor learning is a key feature of our development and our daily lives, from a baby learning to crawl, to an adult learning crafts or sports, or undergoing rehabilitation after an injury or a stroke
We found that players were reliably able to shoot the physical pool ball with the physical cue, while their head and eyes were covered and saw the physical scene rendered in virtual reality
Like in the real-world, in the Embodied Virtual Reality (EVR) environment we found that Velocity Profile Error (VPE) shows a clear pattern of decay over trials in an exponential learning curve for all joints (Fig 6A)
Summary
Motor learning is a key feature of our development and our daily lives, from a baby learning to crawl, to an adult learning crafts or sports, or undergoing rehabilitation after an injury or a stroke. It is a complex process, which involves movement in many degrees of freedom (DoF) and multiple learning mechanisms. The majority of motor learning literature focuses on simple lab-based tasks with limited DoF. The key advantage of these tasks (which made them so popular) is the ability to apply highly controlled manipulations.
Published Version (Free)
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Disclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.