Kinesiology and Motor Control Lab
Individual Differences In Motor Control
We studied the potential differences in motor control by first identifying suitable tasks for quantification of various aspects of motor control. Specifically, Cohen et al., 2018a examines the potential of drawing and tracing tasks as tools for assessment of fine motor control, tested on a large number of subjects with specific attention to individual differences and the implications of these tasks to motor control. The results evidence that there is no correlation in terms of precision between the two tasks and that this lack of correlation is task dependent and not shape dependent. This allows for a classification of subjects, based on their level of tasks precision, as either drawers or tracers. Results obtained from the study suggest that for an accurate evaluation of fine motor control, both tasks should be used integrating their results. Cohen et al., 2021a, extends these findings to elementary children, investigating the development of components of fine motor control using a tracing and a drawing task. The study demonstrates that, while tracing capacity improves greatly with age, drawing capacity improves only slightly. This trend may be due to possible involvement of attention as well as maturation patterns of the nervous system. The tasks, by being simple, economic and rapid, may represent a good instrument for motor control quantification during development, especially for population screening of eventual delays in maturation of motor control.
Cohen et al., 2018b, assesses the sensitivity of a tracing task following specific interventions, examining how the manipulation of objects, specifically fidget spinner, may influence fine motor control using a spiral tracing task. Results suggest that while fidget spinners do improve precision in tracing, it does not appear to be due to any inherent characteristic of the spinners themselves, as Sham group also demonstrated improvements.
In light of the results from the previous studies, we sought also to investigate other aspects of motor control using the same tasks. Specifically, in Cohen et al., 2019, we examined whether a continuous circle tracing task can be used for quantification of motor adaptation. The adequacy of the task was evaluated by examining for aftereffects and generalizations (considered as indicators for motor adaptation). Results affirm the suitability of the task for examining adaptation, specifically, long-lasting after effects and generalization both for size and shift were found. Using a similar approach, in Cohen et al., 2021b we investigated differences in strategy selection using a continuous task. We sought to examine how much of a performance is conditioned by the initial state and whether behavior throughout the performance is modified within a short timescale. This execution-centric approach was able to predict behavior during learning, regardless of outcome.
