title: Skill learning from kinesthetic feedback.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  It is important for a surgeon to perform surgical tasks under appropriate guidance from visual and kinesthetic feedback. However, our knowledge on kinesthetic (muscle) memory and its role in learning motor skills remains elementary.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To discover the effect of exclusive kinesthetic training on kinesthetic memory in both performance and learning.
  
  
  METHODS
  In Phase 1, a total of twenty participants duplicated five 2 dimensional movements of increasing complexity via passive kinesthetic guidance, without visual or auditory stimuli. Five participants were asked to repeat the task in the Phase 2 over a period of three weeks, for a total of nine sessions.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Subjects accurately recalled movement direction using kinesthetic memory, but recalling movement length was less precise. Over the nine training sessions, error occurrence dropped after the sixth session.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Muscle memory constructs the foundation for kinesthetic training. Knowledge gained helps surgeons learn skills from kinesthetic information in the condition where visual feedback is limited.
authors.affiliation: Surgical Simulation Research Lab, Department of Surgery, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada.
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Pinzon
authors.affiliation: Department of Computing Science, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada.
authors.forename: Roberto
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Vega
authors.affiliation: Surgical Simulation Research Lab, Department of Surgery, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada.
authors.forename: Yerly Paola
authors.initials: YP
authors.lastname: Sanchez
authors.affiliation: Surgical Simulation Research Lab, Department of Surgery, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada. Electronic address: bzheng1@ualberta.ca.
authors.forename: Bin
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Zheng
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D013502:General Surgery / Q000193:education*; D006801:Humans; D007699:Kinesthesis; D008297:Male; D009048:Motor Skills; D011597:Psychomotor Performance
keywords: Cognition; Kinesthetics; Learning through memory; Sensorimotor integration; Surgical training; Task performance