Using salient information for motor performance and learning

Human motor behavior includes a very wide range of movements such as grasping a cup to drink your coffee, playing a musical instrument such as the piano, or sports skills such as throwing a ball. Some of these skills are performed with one hand (unimanually) others simultaneously with both hands (bimanually). However, all of these skills have to be learned. In the domain of motor control and learning it is well documented that feedback is one potential learning variable that supports the learning process. Recent research has indicated that one important factor refers to the salient feedback information that a performer uses to increase motor performance and learning. Salient feedback information in this context not only supports the detection and correction of errors. It also forces the performer to achieve a stable performance pattern and improves the development of an efficient movement representation. This research involved three experiments which focused on the following issues: (1) determining the impact of availability and accessibility of salient feedback for the development of a movement sequence representation, (2) finding out at which hemisphere the movement sequence representation is represented, and (3) establishing the impact of salient feedback information during a life-span in a bimanual coordination task. The results indicate that performers have developed an efficient movement sequence representation depending on the available salient feedback information (Experiment 1) and that this information is represented in a specific hemisphere in our central nervous system (Experiment 2). Salient information also supports the performance of a multifrequency bimanual coordination task after 10 minutes of practice. However the performance changes in the course of a life-span (Experiment 3). Human motor behavior includes a very wide range of movements such as grasping a cup to drink your coffee, playing a musical instrument such as the piano, or sports skills such as throwing a ball. Some of these skills are performed with one hand (unimanually) others simultaneously with both hands (bimanually). However, all of these skills have to be learned. In the domain of motor control and learning it is well documented that feedback is one potential learning variable that supports the learning process. Recent research has indicated that one important factor refers to the salient feedback information that a performer uses to increase motor performance and learning. Salient feedback information in this context not only supports the detection and correction of errors. It also forces the performer to achieve a stable performance pattern and improves the development of an efficient movement representation. This research involved three experiments which focused on the following issues: (1) determining the impact of availability and accessibility of salient feedback for the development of a movement sequence representation, (2) finding out at which hemisphere the movement sequence representation is represented, and (3) establishing the impact of salient feedback information during a life-span in a bimanual coordination task. The results indicate that performers have developed an efficient movement sequence representation depending on the available salient feedback information (Experiment 1) and that this information is represented in a specific hemisphere in our central nervous system (Experiment 2). Salient information also supports the performance of a multifrequency bimanual coordination task after 10 minutes of practice. However the performance changes in the course of a life-span (Experiment 3).Das menschliche Verhalten beinhaltet eine Vielzahl von Alltagsbewegungen, wie das Greifen einer Tasse, Bewegungen im musischen Bereich wie das Klavierspielen oder auch sportliche Bewegungen wie das Werfen eines Balles. Einige dieser Bewegungen werden mit einer Hand ausgeführt (unimanuell) andere gleichzeitig mit beiden Händen (bimanuell). Gemein allen diesen Bewegungen ist das sie erlernt werden müssen. In der Literatur ist gut dokumentiert, dass Feedback eine Lernvariable ist, welche die Lernprozesse unterstützen kann. Aktuelle Forschungsergebnisse zeigen, dass eine wichtige Komponente in der Salienz von Feedbackinformationen besteht. Dies bedeutet welche Informationen werden aus der Vielzahl von Informationen die dem Lernenden zu Verfügung stehen herausgehoben und somit dem Lerner leichter zugänglich gemacht damit dieser eine effiziente Bewegungsrepräsentation für die motorische Ausführung etablieren kann. In drei Experimenten wurde den Fragen nachgegangen (1) ob in Abhängigkeit der Verfügbarkeit und Zugänglichkeit von Feedback eine Bewegungsrepräsentation etabliert werden kann, (2) wo die Informationen über die Bewegungsrepräsentation in unserem Zentralnervensystem abgespeichert werden und (3) ob saliente Informationen die motorische Ausführungsleistung über die Lebenspanne bei einer bimanuellen Koordinationsaufgabe unterschiedlich beeinflussen. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass in Abhängigkeit der Salienz von Feedbackinformationen Lerner eine effiziente Bewegungsrepräsentation basierend auf visuell-räumlichen oder motorischen Informationen entwickeln (Experiment 1) und diese Informationen hemisphärenspezifisch in unserem Zentralnervensystem abgespeichert werden (Experiment 2). Saliente Informationen ermöglichen es den Lernern zudem, bimanuelle multifrequenzielle motorische Aufgaben bereits nach weniger als 10 Minuten Übung auszuführen. Die Leistung ist aber über die Lebensspanne graduell unterschiedlich (Experiment 3). Das menschliche Verhalten beinhaltet eine Vielzahl von Alltagsbewegungen, wie das Greifen einer Tasse, Bewegungen im musischen Bereich wie das Klavierspielen oder auch sportliche Bewegungen wie das Werfen eines Balles. Einige dieser Bewegungen werden mit einer Hand ausgeführt (unimanuell) andere gleichzeitig mit beiden Händen (bimanuell). Gemein allen diesen Bewegungen ist das sie erlernt werden müssen. In der Literatur ist gut dokumentiert, dass Feedback eine Lernvariable ist, welche die Lernprozesse unterstützen kann. Aktuelle Forschungsergebnisse zeigen, dass eine wichtige Komponente in der Salienz von Feedbackinformationen besteht. Dies bedeutet welche Informationen werden aus der Vielzahl von Informationen die dem Lernenden zu Verfügung stehen herausgehoben und somit dem Lerner leichter zugänglich gemacht damit dieser eine effiziente Bewegungsrepräsentation für die motorische Ausführung etablieren kann. In drei Experimenten wurde den Fragen nachgegangen (1) ob in Abhängigkeit der Verfügbarkeit und Zugänglichkeit von Feedback eine Bewegungsrepräsentation etabliert werden kann, (2) wo die Informationen über die Bewegungsrepräsentation in unserem Zentralnervensystem abgespeichert werden und (3) ob saliente Informationen die motorische Ausführungsleistung über die Lebenspanne bei einer bimanuellen Koordinationsaufgabe unterschiedlich beeinflussen. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass in Abhängigkeit der Salienz von Feedbackinformationen Lerner eine effiziente Bewegungsrepräsentation basierend auf visuell-räumlichen oder motorischen Informationen entwickeln (Experiment 1) und diese Informationen hemisphärenspezifisch in unserem Zentralnervensystem abgespeichert werden (Experiment 2). Saliente Informationen ermöglichen es den Lernern zudem, bimanuelle multifrequenzielle motorische Aufgaben bereits nach weniger als 10 Minuten Übung auszuführen. Die Leistung ist aber über die Lebensspanne graduell unterschiedlich (Experiment 3)

Bimanual coordination associated with left- and right-hand dominance: testing the limb assignment and limb dominance hypothesis

In an experiment conducted by Kennedy et al. (Exp Brain Res 233:181–195, 2016), dominant right-handed individuals were required to produce a rhythm of isometric forces in a 2:1 or 1:2 bimanual coordination pattern. In the 2:1 pattern, the left limb performed the faster rhythm, while in the 1:2 pattern, the right limb produced the faster pattern. In the 1:2 pattern, interference occurred in the limb which had to produce the slower rhythm of forces. However, in the 2:1 condition, interference occurred in both limbs. The conclusion was that interference was not only influenced by movement frequency, but also influenced by limb dominance. The present experiment was designed to replicate these findings in dynamic bimanual 1:2 and 2:1 tasks where performers had to move one wrist faster than the other, and to determine the influence of limb dominance. Dominant left-handed (N = 10; LQ = − 89.81) and dominant right-handed (N = 14; LQ = 91.25) participants were required to perform a 2:1 and a 1:2 coordination pattern using Lissajous feedback. The harmonicity value was calculated to quantify the interference in the trial-time series. The analysis demonstrated that regardless of limb dominance, harmonicity was always lower in the slower moving limb than in the faster moving limb. The present results indicated that for dominant left- and dominant right-handers the faster moving limb influenced the slower moving limb. This is in accordance with the assumption that movement frequency has a higher impact on limb control in bimanual 2:1 and 1:2 coordination tasks than handedness

Scanning Quantum Dot Microscopy

Interactions between atomic and molecular objects are to a large extent defined by the nanoscale electrostatic potentials which these objects produce. We introduce a scanning probe technique that enables three-dimensional imaging of local electrostatic potential fields with sub-nanometer resolution. Registering single electron charging events of a molecular quantum dot attached to the tip of a (qPlus tuning fork) atomic force microscope operated at 5 K, we quantitatively measure the quadrupole field of a single molecule and the dipole field of a single metal adatom, both adsorbed on a clean metal surface. Because of its high sensitivity, the technique can record electrostatic potentials at large distances from their sources, which above all will help to image complex samples with increased surface roughness.Comment: main text: 5 pages, 4 figures, supplementary information file: 4 pages, 2 figure

Towards a Swiss National Research Infrastructure

In this position paper we describe the current status and plans for a Swiss National Research Infrastructure. Swiss academic and research institutions are very autonomous. While being loosely coupled, they do not rely on any centralized management entities. Therefore, a coordinated national research infrastructure can only be established by federating the various resources available locally at the individual institutions. The Swiss Multi-Science Computing Grid and the Swiss Academic Compute Cloud projects serve already a large number of diverse user communities. These projects also allow us to test the operational setup of such a heterogeneous federated infrastructure

The Finite Mass Method

The finite mass method, a new Lagrangian method for the numerical simulation of gas flows, is presented and analyzed. In contrast to the finite volume and the finite element method, the finite mass method is founded on a discretization of mass, not of space. Mass is subdivided into small mass packets of finite extension each of which is equipped with finitely many internal degrees of freedom. These mass packets move under the influence of internal and external forces and the laws of thermodynamics and can undergo arbitrary linear deformations. The method is based on an approach recently developed by the last author and can attain a very high accuracy

Thematic complexity

Abstract of paper 0504 presented at the Digital Humanities Conference 2019 (DH2019), Utrecht , the Netherlands 9-12 July, 2019