Haptic assistance that restricts use of redundant solutions is detrimental to motor learning

Understanding the use of haptic assistance to facilitate motor learning is a critical issue, especially in the context of tasks requiring control of motor variability. However, the question of how haptic assistance should be designed in tasks with redundancy, where multiple solutions are available, is currently unknown. Here we examined the effect of haptic assistance that either allowed or restricted the use of redundant solutions on the learning of a bimanual steering task. 60 college-aged participants practiced steered a single cursor placed in between their hands along a smooth W-shaped track of a certain width as quickly as possible. Haptic assistance was either applied at the ‘task’ level using a force channel that only constrained the cursor to the track, allowing for the use of different hand trajectories, or (ii) the ‘individual effector’ level using a force channel that constrained each hand to a specific trajectory. In addition, we also examined the effect of ‘fading’ – i.e., decreasing assistance with practice to reduce dependence on haptic assistance. Results showed all groups improved with practice - however, groups with haptic assistance at the individual effector level performed worse than those at the task level. Moreover, fading of assistance did not offer learning benefits over constant assistance. Overall, the results suggest that haptic assistance is not effective for motor learning when it restricts the use of redundant solutions.