Large-scale Online Studies of Motor Responses and Cognition

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.