Elsevier

Research in Developmental Disabilities

Volume 31, Issue 1, January–February 2010, Pages 212-217
Research in Developmental Disabilities

Effects of frequency of feedback on the learning of motor skill in individuals with cerebral palsy

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ridd.2009.09.002Get rights and content

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of frequency of knowledge of results (KR) on the learning of dart in individuals with cerebral palsy type I. Twenty-four individuals with cerebral palsy (CP) between the ages of 5 and 17 were chosen for this study. They were put into 3 homogenous groups according to their records after 20 throws and practiced for 8 sessions. The first group (0% KR) received no KR for any trials, the second group (50% KR) received KR for half of their trials (50%), and the third group (100% KR) received KR for all their trials (100%). The acquisition test was run immediately after the last session and the retention test was run 3 days later.

Paired sample t-test and one-way ANOVA were used to analyze the data from the acquisition and retention tests. According to the results of this study, those with cerebral palsy have the ability of acquiring and retaining a new motor skill under the condition of feedback provision. Interestingly it was found that too much feedback interferes with learning of tasks in individuals with CP as in the average population. This finding shows that rules regarding feedback also apply to people afflicted with CP.

Introduction

Children with cerebral palsy cannot employ their motor abilities. According to the international classification of functioning, disability and health (ICF), there are signs of disabilities such as muscular tension, power, reflexes and the range of movements in body functioning and its structure in cerebral palsy. Extreme limitations are also seen in motor tasks such as wearing clothes, eating and moving. These limitations exist in communal tasks like playing with other children and therefore have significant effects on children's social role-taking (Peacock, 2000). This disability, postpones development and acquisition of skills. However, the range of motor and cognitional deficits caused by it may have not been fully recognized yet. Scientists are trying to determine how the brain responds to damage and how practice affects these responses. Most of the studies in this field have been related to acquiring basic and every day skills. In this study, the assignment was a new skill which individuals had no prior experience of. Therefore, in case the hypotheses of the study are corroborated, we may construe that children with cerebral palsy are capable of learning new skills. Moreover, we investigated modified frequency for motor skill practice.

A relatively high number of studies in the field of teaching or enhancing a motor skill used in everyday lives of the paralyzed or disabled people have been done. Physiotherapists also use a variety of exercises for the individuals in order for them to develop or enhance motor skills. They may use different techniques to reach this goal. While teaching the individual a movement, the physiotherapists or the therapists should know how to use assisted technology or any other subsidiary skills or strategies. We investigated learning a completely new motor activity in these children. One has to have a good harmony between eyes and hands in throwing darts. Spatial precision is important in this skill.

Section snippets

Background

The changes, associated with practice or experience, in internal processes that determine a person's capability for producing a motor skill is called “motor learning” (Schmidt & Wrisberg, 2008). There are many variables which affect learning and seem to be essential. The term feedback was originally characterized as sensory information that indicates something about the actual state of a person's movement. Intrinsic feedback is sensory information that arises as natural consequences of

Participants

Participants were 24 individuals diagnosed with CP type 1 in which only one side of the body had functional disorder and motor disability. The age range of the individuals was 7–15. They were selected from a group of individuals who were right-handed and had no disabilities in the performing hand and also had no gross visual deficits and were all novices in the skill (throwing darts). All participants gave informed consent and their legal guardians also gave informed consent.

Apparatus

The apparatus was a

Results

As you can see in Table 2, Table 3, Table 4 and Fig. 2, regardless of the amount of feedback, all the groups showed significant progress. Table 3, Table 4 which were obtained through paired sample t-test shows that a period of practice using all three kinds of feedback (0, 50 and 100%) had a significant effect on acquisition and also skill retention of throwing a dart.

As can be seen in Table 4, Table 5, the results of practice with 0, 50 and 100% feedback frequency had significant differences

Discussion

It has been well established that knowledge of result has an important role in acquiring motor skills (Young & Schmidt, 1992). However, the majority of published research has been related to normals. Thus, it is important to establish an understanding of whether diverse population responds in a similar way. Some of these studies help to understand whether individuals with defects in CNS respond to feedback the way normal people do. Results of the present study confirm to a great extent the

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