Motor Learning Studies Research Articles

Haptic Guidance and Haptic Error Amplification in a Virtual Surgical Robotic Training Environment.

Teleoperated robotic systems have introduced more intuitive control for minimally invasive surgery, but the optimal method for training remains unknown. Recent motor learning studies have demonstrated that exaggeration of errors helps trainees learn to perform tasks with greater speed and accuracy. We hypothesized that training in a force field that pushes the user away from a desired path would improve their performance on a virtual reality ring-on-wire task. Thirty-eight surgical novices trained under a no-force, guidance, or error-amplifying force field over five days. Completion time, translational and rotational path error, and combined error-time were evaluated under no force field on the final day. The groups significantly differed in combined error-time, with the guidance group performing the worst. Error-amplifying field participants did not plateau in their performance during training, suggesting that learning was still ongoing. Guidance field participants had the worst performance on the final day, confirming the guidance hypothesis. Observed trends also suggested that participants who had high initial path error benefited more from guidance. Error-amplifying and error-reducing haptic training for robot-assisted telesurgery benefits trainees of different abilities differently, with our results indicating that participants with high initial combined error-time benefited more from guidance and error-amplifying force field training.

Mastering Motor Skills: The Contributions of Motor Learning and Motor Development to the Growth and Maturation of Kinesiology

This paper traces the evolution of scholarship in motor learning and development over the last ∼100 years, with a focus on contributions by Fellows from the National Academy of Kinesiology (NAK). It begins with a brief discussion of the centrality of motor skillfulness in kinesiology, followed by a discussion of the appropriate label for the study of motor learning and development. The bulk of the paper focuses on the important events and milestones in the field and an examination of the most influential frameworks and models that NAK Fellows have put forward to guide research. The final section looks at future prospects and challenges for the field. Two key findings emerge: (a) Considerable overlap exists in the theoretical frameworks, conceptual models, empirical questions, research methodologies, and practical applications that dominate scholarship in motor learning and development, and (b) NAK Fellows have made enormous contributions to the field.

Synergy quality assessment of muscle modules for determining learning performance using a realistic musculoskeletal model.

How our central nervous system efficiently controls our complex musculoskeletal system is still debated. The muscle synergy hypothesis is proposed to simplify this complex system by assuming the existence of functional neural modules that coordinate several muscles. Modularity based on muscle synergies can facilitate motor learning without compromising task performance. However, the effectiveness of modularity in motor control remains debated. This ambiguity can, in part, stem from overlooking that the performance of modularity depends on the mechanical aspects of modules of interest, such as the torque the modules exert. To address this issue, this study introduces two criteria to evaluate the quality of module sets based on commonly used performance metrics in motor learning studies: the accuracy of torque production and learning speed. One evaluates the regularity in the direction of mechanical torque the modules exert, while the other evaluates the evenness of its magnitude. For verification of our criteria, we simulated motor learning of torque production tasks in a realistic musculoskeletal system of the upper arm using feed-forward neural networks while changing the control conditions. We found that the proposed criteria successfully explain the tendency of learning performance in various control conditions. These result suggest that regularity in the direction of and evenness in magnitude of mechanical torque of utilized modules are significant factor for determining learning performance. Although the criteria were originally conceived for an error-based learning scheme, the approach to pursue which set of modules is better for motor control can have significant implications in other studies of modularity in general.

Relationship between skill training and skill transfer through the example of bimanual motor learning.

Skill training aims to improve the performance of the task at hand and aims to transfer the acquired skill to related tasks. Both skill training and skill transfer are part of our everyday lives, and essential for survival, and their importance is reflected in years of research. Despite these enormous efforts, however, the complex relationship between skill training and skill transfer is not yet portrayed completely. Building upon two theories, we probed this relationship through the example of bimanual learning with a large cross-sectional design (N = 450) using an online framework. We designed five training tasks which differed in the variance of the training material (schema theory) and three transfer tasks differing in their similarity to the training task (identical elements theory). Theoretically, the five training tasks and the three transfer tasks varied approximately linearly from each other. Empirical data, however, suggested merely the presence of three statistically different training tasks and two significantly different transfer tasks, indicating a nonlinear relationship. Against our expectation, Bayesian statistics suggested that the type of skill training was not related to the type of skill transfer. However, the amount of skill training was positively related to the amount of skill transfer. Together, we showed that motor learning studies can be conducted online. Further, our results shed light on the complex relationship between skill training and skill transfer. Understanding this relationship has wide-ranging practical implications for the general population, particularly for musicians, athletes and patients recovering from injury.

A novel video game for remote studies of motor adaptation in children.

Here we designed a motor adaptation video game that could be played remotely (at home) through a web browser. This required the child to adapt to a visuomotor rotation between their hand movement and a ball displayed in the game. The task had several novel features, specifically designed to allow the study of the developmental trajectory of adaptation across a wide range of ages. We test the concurrent validity by comparing children's performance on our remote task to the same task performed in the laboratory. All participants remained engaged and completed the task. We quantified feedforward and feedback control during this task. Feedforward control, a key measure of adaptation, was similar at home and in the laboratory. All children could successfully use feedback control to guide the ball to a target. Traditionally, motor learning studies are performed in a laboratory to obtain high quality kinematic data. However, here we demonstrate concurrent validity of kinematic behavior when conducted at home. Our online platform provides the flexibility and ease of collecting data that will enable future studies with large sample sizes, longitudinal experiments, and the study of children with rare diseases.

An Experimental Study to Analyze the Efficacy of Backwards Gait Training on Balance and Weight Bearing Asymmetry on Sub-Acute Stroke Patient

Background: Stroke is the leading cause of long-term disability and death, and the second leading cause of deathworldwide. The first month after a stroke is a vital period since the brain goes through major plastic changes duringthis time. Motor learning studies emphasize the significance of experience and learning in functional rehabilitation.Because training is a potent stimulator of neuroplasticity, the addition of a focused rehabilitation strategy canimprove recovery by maximizing brain reconfiguration. Backward Walking Training (BWT) is an adjuvanttherapeutic and rehabilitation method to improve proprioception, muscle strength, intra-limb coordination, andbalance. Studies examining its effects on balance and weight bearing asymmetry are lacking.Objective: To determine the effect of BWT on balance and weight bearing asymmetry in sub acute stroke subjects.Results: The difference between the pre- and post-test results within the group for balance on Berg Balance Scale(BBS) as well as the weight on the affected and unaffected Lower Limb (LL) on the Body Weighing Machine(BWM) are both deemed to be significant for paired T-Test. According to conventional standards, when comparingpre- and post-test results for balance and the difference in weight between the two groups for the affected andunaffected Lower Limb (LL) on the BWM for the experimental and control groups using Unpaired T-Test, it canbe inferred that the difference is statistically significant.Conclusions: When combined with conventional physiotherapy as opposed to conventional physiotherapyalone, backwards gait training has a modestly greater impact on balance and weight bearing asymmetry. Bergbalance score and weight bearing asymmetry can both be improved in stroke patients using BWT as an additionto standard care (moderate evidence).

Let the force guide you: a performance-based adaptive algorithm for postural training using haptic feedback.

Motor learning is an essential component of human behavior. Many different factors can influence the process of motor learning, such as the amount of practice and type of feedback. Changes in task difficulty during training can also considerably impact motor learning. Typical motor learning studies include a sequential variation of task difficulty, i.e., easy to challenging, irrespective of user performance. However, many studies have reported the importance of performance-based task difficulty variation for effective motor learning and skill transfer. A performance-based adaptive algorithm for task difficulty variation based on the challenge-point framework is proposed in this study. The algorithm is described for postural adaptation during simultaneous upper-limb training. Ten healthy participants (28 ± 2.44 years) were recruited to validate the algorithm. Participants adapted to a postural target of 20° in the anterior direction from the initial upright posture while performing a unimanual reaching task using a robotic device. Results suggest a significant decrease in postural error after training. The algorithm successfully adapted the task difficulty based on the performance of the user. The proposed algorithm could be modified for different motor skills and can be further evaluated for different applications in order to maximize the potential benefits of rehabilitation sessions.

Application of Feedback Type on Performance of Abdominal Drawing-In Maneuver in Healthy Adults: A Quasi-Experimental Study of Motor Control and Motor Learning

ObjectiveThe aim of this study was to compare the effects of verbal, tactile-verbal, and visual feedback on muscle activation of the lumbar stabilizers relative to extremity movers during an abdominal drawing-in maneuver when feedback is withheld. MethodsThis quasi-experimental study equally divided 54 healthy adults into 3 feedback groups (verbal, tactile-verbal, and visual) who trained twice per week over a 4-week period to perform supine abdominal drawing-in maneuvers. The percentage of maximum voluntary isometric contraction of rectus abdominis, multifidus (MF), erector spinae, and hamstrings (HS) as an outcome measure was acquired using surface electromyography. A 2-way factorial analysis of variance with bootstrapping allowed for comparison of post-pre difference scores across the interaction of feedback and muscle groups. ResultsHamstring activation decreased in those receiving tactile-verbal feedback relative to an increase in participants given visual feedback. Furthermore, when using verbal feedback, HS activity increased relative to a decline in rectus abdominis, and when presenting visual feedback, HS activity increased relative to a decrease in MF. However, no post-pre changes were seen across muscles with tactile-verbal feedback. ConclusionAlthough tactile-verbal feedback did not increase MF recruitment, it produced less HS activity than visual feedback. Undesirable HS recruitment may reflect boredom or feedback dependency.

Feedback Schedule Effects on Speech Motor Learning in Older Adults

<strong>Purpose:</strong> The Principles of Motor Learning (PML) emerged from studies of limb motor skills in healthy, young adults. The applicability of these principles to speech motor learning, and to older adults, is uncertain. The purpose of this study was to examine one PML, feedback frequency, and to elucidate whether it affects the retention of a speech motor task. <strong>Method:</strong> Thirty older participants were randomly assigned to one of the three feedback frequency groups (every trial, every 5^th, every 10^th) and trained to produce a phrase 2 times and 3 times slower than their habitual rate. Over 100 practice trials, all participants demonstrated a reduction in error, suggesting they understood and acquired the task. Mean absolute error (MAE) was measured to examine delayed 2- to 4- day retention. <strong>Results:</strong> When participants returned for retention testing 2 to 4 days post-training, those receiving feedback every 5^th trial demonstrated significantly lower MAE (enhanced retention) compared to those receiving high frequency feedback following every trial. There were no significant differences between participants receiving feedback following every trial or every 5^th trial versus every 10^th trial. <strong>Conclusions:</strong> Enhanced retention of the trained speech motor task for participants receiving low frequency feedback following every 5^th trial, relative to those receiving high frequency feedback following every trial, is consistent with the extensive limb motor learning literature and the trend of a small number of speech motor learning studies, suggesting provision of low frequency feedback enhances retention of trained novel movements.

Pupil diameter tracked during motor adaptation in humans.

Pupil diameter, under constant illumination, is known to reflect individuals' internal states, such as surprise about observation and environmental uncertainty. Despite the growing use of pupillometry in cognitive learning studies as an additional measure for examining internal states, few studies have used pupillometry in human motor learning studies. Here, we provide the first detailed characterization of pupil diameter changes in a short-term reach adaptation paradigm. We measured pupil changes in 121 human participants while they adapted to abrupt, gradual, or switching force field conditions. Sudden increases in movement error caused by the introduction/reversal of the force field resulted in strong phasic pupil dilation during movement accompanied by a transient increase in tonic premovement baseline pupil diameter in subsequent trials. In contrast, pupil responses were reduced when the force field was gradually introduced, indicating that large, unexpected errors drove the changes in pupil responses. Interestingly, however, error-induced pupil responses gradually became insensitive after experiencing multiple force field reversals. We also found an association between baseline pupil diameter and incidental knowledge of the gradually introduced perturbation. Finally, in all experiments, we found a strong co-occurrence of larger baseline pupil diameter with slower reaction and movement times after each rest break. Collectively, these results suggest that tonic baseline pupil diameter reflects one's belief about environmental uncertainty, whereas phasic pupil dilation during movement reflects surprise about a sensory outcome (i.e., movement error), and both effects are modulated by novelty. Our results provide a new approach for nonverbally assessing participants' internal states during motor learning.NEW & NOTEWORTHY Pupil diameter is known as a noninvasive window into individuals' internal states. Despite the growing use of pupillometry in cognitive learning studies, it receives little attention in motor learning studies. Here, we characterized the pupil responses in a short-term reach adaptation paradigm by measuring pupil diameter of human participants while they adapted to abrupt, gradual, or switching force field conditions. Our results demonstrate how surprise and uncertainty reflected in pupil diameter develop during motor adaptation.

Ten guidelines for designing motor learning studies.

Motor learning is a central focus of several disciplines including kinesiology, neuroscience and rehabilitation. However, given the different traditions of these fields, this interdisciplinarity can be a challenge when trying to interpret evidence and claims from motor learning experiments. To address this issue, we offer a set of ten guidelines for designing motor learning experiments starting from task selection to data analysis, primarily from the viewpoint of running lab-based experiments. The guidelines are not intended to serve as rigid rules, but instead to raise awareness about key issues in motor learning. We believe that addressing these issues can increase the robustness of work in the field and its relevance to the real-world.

Design of an Isometric End-Point Force Control Task for Electromyography Normalization and Muscle Synergy Extraction From the Upper Limb Without Maximum Voluntary Contraction.

Muscle synergy analysis via surface electromyography (EMG) is useful to study muscle coordination in motor learning, clinical diagnosis, and neurorehabilitation. However, current methods to extract muscle synergies in the upper limb suffer from two major issues. First, the necessary normalization of EMG signals is performed via maximum voluntary contraction (MVC), which requires maximal isometric force production in each muscle. However, some individuals with motor impairments have difficulties producing maximal effort in the MVC task. In addition, the MVC is known to be highly unreliable, with widely different forces produced in repeated measures. Second, synergy extraction in the upper limb is typically performed with a multidirection reaching task. However, some participants with motor impairments cannot perform this task because it requires precise motor control. In this study, we proposed a new isometric rotating task that does not require precise motor control or large forces. In this task, participants maintain a cursor controlled by the arm end-point force on a target that rotates at a constant angular velocity at a designated force level. To relax constraints on motor control precision, the target is widened and blurred. To obtain a reference EMG value for normalization without requiring maximal effort, we estimated a linear relationship between joint torques and muscle activations. We assessed the reliability of joint torque normalization and synergy extraction in the rotating task in young neurotypical individuals. Compared with normalization with MVC, joint torque normalization allowed reliable EMG normalization at low force levels. In addition, the extraction of synergies was as reliable and more stable than with the multidirection reaching task. The proposed rotating task can, therefore, be used in future motor learning, clinical diagnosis, and neurorehabilitation studies.

Long-Term Motor Learning in the "Wild" With High Volume Video Game Data.

Motor learning occurs over long periods of practice during which motor acuity, the ability to execute actions more accurately, precisely, and in less time, improves. Laboratory-based studies of motor learning are typically limited to a small number of participants and a time frame of minutes to several hours per participant. There is a need to assess the generalizability of theories and findings from lab-based motor learning studies on larger samples and time scales. In addition, laboratory-based studies of motor learning use relatively simple motor tasks which participants are unlikely to be intrinsically motivated to learn, limiting the interpretation of their findings in more ecologically valid settings (“in the wild”). We studied the acquisition and longitudinal refinement of a complex sensorimotor skill embodied in a first-person shooter video game scenario, with a large sample size (N = 7174, 682,564 repeats of the 60 s game) over a period of months. Participants voluntarily practiced the gaming scenario for up to several hours per day up to 100 days. We found improvement in performance accuracy (quantified as hit rate) was modest over time but motor acuity (quantified as hits per second) improved considerably, with 40–60% retention from 1 day to the next. We observed steady improvements in motor acuity across multiple days of video game practice, unlike most motor learning tasks studied in the lab that hit a performance ceiling rather quickly. Learning rate was a non-linear function of baseline performance level, amount of daily practice, and to a lesser extent, number of days between practice sessions. In addition, we found that the benefit of additional practice on any given day was non-monotonic; the greatest improvements in motor acuity were evident with about an hour of practice and 90% of the learning benefit was achieved by practicing 30 min per day. Taken together, these results provide a proof-of-concept in studying motor skill acquisition outside the confines of the traditional laboratory, in the presence of unmeasured confounds, and provide new insights into how a complex motor skill is acquired in an ecologically valid setting and refined across much longer time scales than typically explored.

Singular Spectrum Analysis as a data-driven approach to the analysis of motor adaptation time series

Motor adaptation is a form of learning to re-establish desired movements in novel situations. To probe motor adaptation, one can replicate such conditions experimentally by imposing a sustained perturbation during movement. Exposure to such perturbations initially causes an abrupt change in relevant performance variables, followed by a gradual return to baseline behaviour. The resulting time series exhibit persistent properties related to structural changes in underlying motor control and transitory properties related to trial-to-trial variations. The global trend, signifying the structural change, is often assessed by averaging the time series in predefined bins or nonlinear model fitting. However, these methods to study motor adaptation require a priori decisions to produce accurate fits. Here, we test a data-driven approach called Singular Spectrum Analysis (SSA) to assess the global trend. In SSA, we first decompose the adaptation time series into components that represent either a global trend or additional variations, and secondly, select the component(s) corresponding to the global trend using spectral analysis. In this paper, we will use simulated data to compare the reconstruction performance of SSA with often applied filter and fitting methods in motor adaptation studies and apply SSA to real data obtained during split-belt adaptation. In the simulations, we show that SSA reconstructed the fast-initial component and entire global trends more accurately than the filtering and fitting methods. In addition, we show that SSA also successfully reconstructed global trends from real data. Therefore, the SSA might be useful in motor learning studies to decompose and assess adaptation time series.

Moving outside the lab: The viability of conducting sensorimotor learning studies online

Collecting data online via crowdsourcing platforms has proven to be a very efficient way to recruit a large and diverse sample. Studies of motor learning, however, have been largely confined to the lab due to the need for special equipment to record movement kinematics and, as such, are typically only accessible to specific participants (e.g., college students). As a first foray to make motor learning studies accessible to a larger and more diverse audience, we developed an online, web-based platform (OnPoint) to collect kinematic data, serving as a template for researchers to create their own online sensorimotor control and learning experiments. As a proof-of-concept, we asked if fundamental motor learning phenomena discovered in the lab could be replicated online. In a series of three experiments, we observed a close correspondence between the results obtained online with those previously reported from research conducted in the laboratory. This web-based platform paired with online crowdsourcing can serve as a powerful new method for the study of motor control and learning.

Unloading the dice: selection and design of comparison and control groups in controlled trials to enhance translational impact within motor learning and control research

ABSTRACT In order to evaluate an experimental intervention, it should be contrasted against at least one relevant comparison group. Without meaningful and relevant comparisons, results can be difficult to interpret, effect sizes may be unduly minimised or exaggerated, and any resulting recommendations for practice could be called into question. Despite recognition of the importance of control groups in study design, however, there is currently limited guidance for sport-related research with regard to the selection and design of comparison groups. Furthermore, we have become increasingly concerned with the recurrent use of comparison groups, particularly in motor learning and control studies, that may initially appear well designed in experimental terms but ultimately possess limited relevance to—and in turn limited utility for informing—applied practice. To address these issues, we first set forth and discuss the primary types of control groups available for sport research, which include no-treatment, placebo or alternative-task, variable-delivery and active-treatment groups. We then present seven key principles to consider—upon identifying the appropriate type of control—in order to maximise internal validity, enhance interpretability and best inform real-world practice for sport psychology and motor learning and development. It is intended that the principles and recommendations detailed herein could support sport-related study design to the benefit of researchers and applied practitioners alike.

Task-relevant and task-irrelevant variability causally shape error-based motor learning

Recent studies of motor learning show dissociable roles of reward- and sensory-prediction errors in updating motor commands by using typical adaptation paradigms where force or visual perturbations are imposed on hand movements. Such classic adaptation paradigms ignore a problem of redundancy inherently embedded in the motor pathways where the central nervous system has to find a unique solution in the high-dimensional motor command space. Computationally, a possible way of solving such a redundancy problem is exploring and updating motor commands based on the learned knowledge of the structures of both the motor pathways and the tasks. However, the effects of task-irrelevant motor command exploration in structure learning and its effects on reward-based and error-based learning have yet to be examined. Here, we used a redundant motor task where participants manipulated a cursor on a monitor screen with their hand gesture movements and then analyzed single-trial motor learning by fitting models consisting of reward-based and error-based learning contributions. We found that the error-based learning rate positively correlated with both task-relevant and task-irrelevant variability, likely reflecting the effect of motor exploration in structure learning. Further modeling results show that the effects of both task-relevant and task-irrelevant variability are simultaneous, and not mediated by one another. In contrast, the reward-based learning rate correlated with neither task-relevant nor task-irrelevant variability. Thus, although not having a direct influence on the task outcome, exploration in the task-irrelevant space late in training has a significant effect on the learning of a task structure used for error-based learning. This suggests that motor exploration, in both task-relevant and task-irrelevant spaces, has an essential role in error-based motor learning in a redundant motor mechanism.

Combined real-time fMRI and real time fNIRS brain computer interface (BCI): Training of volitional wrist extension after stroke, a case series pilot study.

ObjectivePilot testing of real time functional magnetic resonance imaging (rt-fMRI) and real time functional near infrared spectroscopy (rt-fNIRS) as brain computer interface (BCI) neural feedback systems combined with motor learning for motor recovery in chronic severely impaired stroke survivors.ApproachWe enrolled a four-case series and administered three sequential rt-fMRI and ten rt-fNIRS neural feedback sessions interleaved with motor learning sessions. Measures were: Arm Motor Assessment Tool, functional domain (AMAT-F; 13 complex functional tasks), Fugl-Meyer arm coordination scale (FM); active wrist extension range of motion (ROM); volume of activation (fMRI); and fNIRS HbO concentration. Performance during neural feedback was assessed, in part, using percent successful brain modulations during rt-fNIRS.Main resultsPre-/post-treatment mean clinically significant improvement in AMAT-F (.49 ± 0.22) and FM (10.0 ± 3.3); active wrist ROM improvement ranged from 20° to 50°. Baseline to follow-up change in brain signal was as follows: fMRI volume of activation was reduced in almost all ROIs for three subjects, and for one subject there was an increase or no change; fNIRS HbO was within normal range, except for one subject who increased beyond normal at post-treatment. During rt-fNIRS neural feedback training, there was successful brain signal modulation (42%–78%).SignificanceSeverely impaired stroke survivors successfully engaged in spatially focused BCI systems, rt-fMRI and rt-fNIRS, to clinically significantly improve motor function. At the least, equivalency in motor recovery was demonstrated with prior long-duration motor learning studies (without neural feedback), indicating that no loss of motor improvement resulted from substituting neural feedback sessions for motor learning sessions. Given that the current neural feedback protocol did not prevent the motor improvements observed in other long duration studies, even in the presence of fewer sessions of motor learning in the current work, the results support further study of neural feedback and its potential for recovery of motor function in stroke survivors. In future work, expanding the sophistication of either or both rt-fMRI and rt-fNIRS could hold the potential for further reducing the number of hours of training needed and/or the degree of recovery.ClinicalTrials.gov ID: NCT02856035.

Implicit learning of temporal behavior in complex dynamic environments

Humans can automatically detect and learn to exploit repeated aspects (regularities) of the environment. Timing research suggests that such learning is not only used to anticipate what will happen, but also when it will happen. However, in timing experiments, the intervals to be timed are presented in isolation from other stimuli and explicitly cued, contrasting with naturalistic environments in which intervals are embedded in a constant stream of events and individuals are hardly aware of them. It is unclear whether laboratory findings from timing research translate to a more ecologically valid, implicit environment. Here we show in a game-like experiment, specifically designed to measure naturalistic behavior, that participants implicitly use regular intervals to anticipate future events, even when these intervals are constantly interrupted by irregular yet behaviorally relevant events. This finding extends previous research by showing that individuals not only detect such regularities but can also use this knowledge to decide when to act in a complex environment. Furthermore, this finding demonstrates that this type of learning can occur independently from the ordinal sequence of motor actions, which contrasts this work with earlier motor learning studies. Taken together, our results demonstrate that regularities in the time between events are implicitly monitored and used to predict and act on what happens when, thereby showing that laboratory findings from timing research can generalize to naturalistic environments. Additionally, with the development of our game-like experiment, we demonstrate an approach to test cognitive theories in less controlled, ecologically more valid environments.

Missing Data Reporting and Analysis in Motor Learning and Development: A Systematic Review of Past and Present Practices

Missing data incidents are common in experimental studies of motor learning and development. Inadequate handling of missing data may lead to serious problems, such as addition of bias, reduction in power, and so on. Thus, this study aimed to conduct a systematic review of the past (2007) and present (2017) practices used for reporting and analyzing missing data in motor learning and development. For this purpose, the authors reviewed 309 articles from five journals focusing on motor learning and development studies and published in 2007 and 2017. The authors carefully reviewed each article using a six-stage review process to assess the reporting and analyzing practices. Reporting of missing data along with reasons for their presence was consistently high across time, which slightly increased in 2017. Researchers predominantly used older methods (mainly deletion) for analysis, which only showed a small increase in the use of newer methods in 2017. While reporting practices were exemplary, missing data analysis calls for serious attention. Improvements in missing data handling may have the merit to address some of the major issues, such as underpowered studies, in motor learning and development.