Kinesiology Commons^™

Using A Multi-Direction Reaching Approach To Investigate Fitts’ Law And The Effect Of Attentional Focus On Motor Learning, Charles R. Smith

Theses and Dissertations

The Index of Difficulty value (ID) derived from Fitts’ Law’s speed-accuracy trade-off is commonly used to determine the difficulty of a targeted reaching movement and balance difficulty in sequence learning tasks. However, this value does not account for the mechanical difficulty of multi-directional movements which could affect both performance and learning. Where we direct our focus when completing a task/skill can also have an effect on how we perform and learn that task, however, the manner in which differing focus instructions affect learning a whole-arm reaching task is relatively unknown. The purpose of this dissertation was to examine 1) how …

Effects Of Positive Social Comparative Feedback During Practice On Motor Sequence Learning, Performance Expectancies, And Resting State Connectivity, Allison Foster Lewis

Theses and Dissertations

Positive social comparative feedback indicates to the learner that they are performing better than others. While this type feedback supports motor skill learning in some tasks, the effect of social comparative feedback on motor sequence learning remains unknown. In addition, the OPTIMAL theory predicts that positive social comparative feedback may trigger a dopaminergic response in the brain. However, no studies have utilized neuroimaging techniques to investigate this question. Therefore, the aim of these studies was to determine the effect of positive social comparative feedback on motor sequence learning, performance expectancies, and resting state connectivity of dopaminergic neural pathways.

In the …

Direction Of Attentional Focus In Prosthetic Training: Current Practice And Potential For Improving Motor Learning In Individuals With Lower Limb Loss, Alexander Bonczyk, Maria Katrina Tillada Dimapilis, Sarah Partridge, Samantha Ruiz

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Objective: Adopting an external focus of attention has been shown to benefit motor performance and learning. However, the potential of optimizing attentional focus for improving prosthetic motor skills in lower limb prosthesis (LLP) users has not been examined. In this study, we investigated the frequency and direction of attentional focus embedded in the verbal instructions in a clinical prosthetic training setting.

Methods: Twenty-one adult LLP users (8 female, 13 male; 85% at K3 level; mean age=50.5) were recruited from prosthetic clinics in the Southern Nevada region. Verbal interactions between LLP users and their prosthetists (mean experience=10 years, range=4-21 years) during …