The effect of errorless motor training on visuomotor behaviors in the goal-directed reaching by older adults

Abstract

This study aims to investigate the effect of errorless motor training on visuomotor behaviors among older adults. We recruited 29 eligible older adults (Mean age = 71.56 years, SD = 4.43), with normal or corrected-to-normal vision, to participate in the study. All participants were trained in the computer-based goal-directed reaching motor task by either errorless motor training, errorful motor training or normal motor training. The specific computer program was written by the Experiment Builder (SR Research, Ontario, Canada) software to control the experimental presentation and to capture the outcome on motor performance. Gaze behaviors were recorded by an EyeLink II desktop mount system (SR Research, Ontario, Canada). It was found that errorful and normal motor training decreased the reaching movement time significantly while errorless motor training had not modified the movement time among older adults in the goal-directed reaching motor task. Also, errorless motor training decreased the reaching distance away from the target (increased movement accuracy) more than normal motor training, while errorful motor training increased the reaching distance. The results indicated that errorless motor training could uniquely improve movement accuracy without modifying movement speed in the goal-directed reaching task. Concerning the gaze behaviors, errorless motor training increased fixation duration on the target together with decreased number of fixation simultaneously, differently from errorful and normal motor training. It suggested that errorless motor training could induce the modification of visual selective attentional processes by increasing fixation duration and decreasing the number of fixations among older adults, which could contribute to focusing more attention on the relevant visual information but neglecting the visual distraction for improving movement accuracy in the goal-directed reaching.