Generalization of Motor Adaptation Skills from Bimanual-Grasp to Individual Limbs

Abstract

We reported previously that the skills transferred from practicing using a bimanual grasp to skills in right hand are small but significant. In this study on healthy right-handed people we compared how well skills learned while training using a bimanual grasp transferred to the left and right hands performance individually. As before, the task was to make target-directed reaching movements while grasping a planar robotic device that systematically disturbed movements at the handle. Results showed that skills learned while practicing with a bimanual grasp generalized (transferred) to both the dominant and the non-dominant arm equally well, with the right limb benefiting the most because it began with less error.