ACQUIRING BIMANUAL SKILLS - CONTRASTING FORMS OF INFORMATION FEEDBACKFOR INTERLIMB DECOUPLING

The present experiments addressed the learner's capability to perform different upper-limb actions simultaneously with the help of various s ources of information feedback. An elbow flexion movement was made in the left limb together with a flexion-extension-flexion movement in th e right limb. Interlimb interactions were assessed at the structural a s well as the metrical level of movement specification during acquisit ion and retention. Despite a strong initial tendency for the limbs to be synchronized, findings revealed that Ss became gradually more succe ssful in interlimb decoupling as a result of practice with augmented f eedback. However, detailed knowledge of movement kinematics was no mor e effective than global outcome information for interlimb decoupling, indicating that knowledge of results may have more potential for acqui ring multiple degree-of-freedom tasks than previously believed. Finall y, the data support the general notion that learning new coordination tasks involves the suppression of preexisting preferred coordination t endencies, which is often a prerequisite for building new coordination modes.