The effect of feedback during training sessions on learning pattern-recognition based prosthesis control

Morten B Kristoffersen*, Andreas W Franzke, Corry K van der Sluis, Alessio Murgia, Raoul M Bongers

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleAcademicpeer-review

19 Citations (Scopus)
135 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Human-machine interfaces have not yet advanced to enable intuitive control of multiple degrees of freedom as offered by modern myoelectric prosthetic hands. Pattern Recognition (PR) control has been proposed to make human-machine interfaces in myoelectric prosthetic hands more intuitive, but it requires the user to generate high-quality, i.e., consistent and separable, electromyogram (EMG) patterns. To generate such patterns, user training is required and has shown promising results. However, how different levels of feedback affect effectivity in training differently, has not been established yet. Furthermore, a correlation between qualities of the EMG patterns (the focus of training) and user performance has not been shown yet. In this study, 37 able-bodied participants (mean age 21 years, 19 males) were recruited and trained PR control over five days. Three levels of feedback were tested for their effectiveness: no external feedback, visual feedback and visual feedback with coaching. Training resulted in improved performance from pre-to post-test with no interaction effect of feedback. Feedback did however affect the quality of the EMG patterns where people who did not receive external feedback generated higher amplitude patterns. A weak correlation was found between a principal component, composed of EMG amplitude and pattern variability, and performance. Our results show that training is highly effective in improving PR control regardless of feedback and that none of the quality metrics correlate with performance. We discuss how different levels of feedback can be leveraged to improve PR control training.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)2087-2096
Number of pages10
JournalIEEE Transactions on Neural Systems and Rehabilitation Engineering
Volume27
Issue number10
Early online date20-Aug-2019
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Oct-2019

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