Large-Scale Online Studies of Early Motor Skill Learning

Objective:

Our overall goal in this protocol has been to gain insight into early motor skill learning (micro-learning) in large-scale healthy volunteer cohorts using online crowd-sourcing. We have used a simple keyboard typing task to study micro-offline performance improvements during early motor skill learning. This online approach limits the burden on participants (who perform tasks in the comfort of their homes instead of traveling to NIH) and substantially reduces burden on in-house human, financial and technical resources. Results from this protocol contribute to a better understanding of factors relevant to human motor skill learning, with important implications for the design of better motor learning and neurorehabilitative strategies after brain lesions. We had completed data collection for four aims under this protocol at the time we were informed by the NIH IRB that they determined this to be a thematic protocol (September 23, 2019).

The four specific aims addressed under this protocol are:

1. Aim 1. To validate a motor skill learning task previously used by our group in lab-based studies {Bonstrup, 2019 #36} within an online, crowd-sourcing platform.
2. Aim 2. To compare the influence of an interfering task applied during early ("early interference") vs late ("late interference") rest periods on motor learning, thus evaluating resistance to interference, a feature of consolidation.
3. Aim 3. To evaluate the effects of a shorter practice period duration (i.e. - 5s vs. previously studied 10s duration) on micro-offline motor learning to gain insight into the impact of fatigue-related factors on learning.
4. Aim 4. To evaluate the effects of randomly variable practice period durations between 5-10s in length on micro-offline gains

As instructed, the purpose of this amendment is to request authorization to proceed with data analysis and publication. No new experiments will be carried out under this protocol.

Study Population:

U.S.-based English speakers aged 18 and above were recruited under this minimal risk protocol. Participants completed an online task in the comfort of their own homes using the internet, and did not need to directly interact with the investigators. All participants were given an anonymized random ID by the on-line site. We did collect general demographic information including age (needed to determine elegibility), and gender, race and ethnicity (per IRB reporting requirements, i.e. - Cumulative Inclusion Enrollment Report). However, we did not collect personally identifiable information (PII) about the participants.

Design:

Under this protocol, we have conducted experiments supporting four aims using Amazon Mechanical Turk (AMT). All experiments consisted of a brief keyboard typing task where participants were asked to repeatedly type a 5-key sequence (4-1-3-2-4) as fast and as accurately as possible for several seconds (i.e. - practice trial). Each practice trial was followed by a rest period lasting several seconds. Following the task, participants completed a short questionnaire designed to query compliance with task instructions, and collect general demographic data required for IRB reporting. The average total time for participation across all experiments was approximately 20 minutes.

Outcome Measures:

The primary outcome measures for the keyboard typing task were correct sequence typing speed and typing accuracy. Microlearning scores were derived by quantifying the speed change between the end of a previous practice trial and the beginning of the subsequent one (micro-offline learning) and the speed difference between the beginning and end of the same practice trial (micro-online learning). Information from the questionaires related to task instruction compliance was primarily used to exclude data from further analysis if needed.