Haptic human-human interaction does not improve individual visuomotor adaptation

TL;DR

This study investigated whether haptic human-human interaction enhances individual visuomotor adaptation, finding that increased interaction time or strength does not improve individual performance compared to solo practice.

Contribution

The paper replicates previous findings and systematically tests the effects of interaction duration and strength, concluding that haptic interaction does not benefit individual visuomotor learning.

Findings

Haptic interaction does not improve individual visuomotor adaptation.

Increasing interaction time or strength does not enhance individual performance.

Results challenge previous assumptions about haptic assistance benefits.

Abstract

Haptic interaction between two humans, for example, a physiotherapist assisting a patient regaining the ability to grasp a cup, likely facilitates motor skill acquisition. Haptic human-human interaction has been shown to enhance individual performance improvement in a tracking task with a visuomotor rotation perturbation. These results are remarkable given that haptically assisting or guiding an individual rarely benefits their individual improvement when the assistance is removed. We, therefore, replicated a study that reported that haptic interaction between humans was beneficial for individual improvement for tracking a target in a visuomotor rotation perturbation. In addition, we tested the effect of more interaction time and a stronger haptic coupling between the partners on individual improvement in the same task. We found no benefits of haptic interaction on individual improvement compared to individuals who practised the task alone, independent of interaction time or interaction strength.